Out of Sight, Out of Mind
by FrankandJoe3
Summary: Just when Robin thought that his new life as a hero was going to be normal, someone from his past resurfaces to change all of that.
1. Chapter 1

**My 100****th**** story! So I have it all planned out. If you don't know about Robin's past, read up on it, stat! I have this all planned out. Robin may seem a little bit out of character, but it'll be for good reason. As for the others, I'm going to try to keep them as in character as I can. I'm going to put a lot of effort into this. My Daddy's coming home soon and he's alive and he's gonna get the new job and life'll be easy again. Everything will be good… everything's going to be okay… I promise… **

**Out of Sight, Out of Mind**

**Prologue**

Robin collapsed weakly to the ground. He couldn't keep his eyes open anymore, no matter how much he knew he had to. He could taste blood pooling in his mouth and he could weakly see it through the weak slits of his closed eyes. There was so much blood… Robin put all of his strength into his arms as he attempted to lift himself off the ground. Even if he had managed to lift himself, it wouldn't have mattered for a suede shoe came down hard on the center of his back, forcing him back down with a cry. Robin allowed a small whimper to escape his lips as the darkness nearly took him over.

"Such a shame," the familiar voice said softly, putting the cigarette to their lips.

They inhaled the smoke and then slowly let it out in a long stream, resembling that of a train whistle. They then threw the cigarette to the ground and stamped it out.

"I had just a bit more hope for you boy. I guess time really didn't change you. You're still the weak, pathetic, scared little boy that I used to know… such a shame that I'll have to kill you now… you had such a potential. You really could've helped the world," the person smiled cynically.

"Y-you…" Robin attempted to choke out, but he was in too much pain for his lips to move efficiently.

The person just kept right on smiling.

"Yes, I suppose I am something, aren't I?" they chuckled softly to themselves.

They folded their arms over their chest, amused, as they stared down at the body of Robin.

"So yes, I suppose they do call you Robin now? I never really liked that name you know. Grayson always seemed to fit you… you were always a scared child; one might even call you a grey one. You never took sides. It was also 'you're both right' or 'can't we all just get along'. And you were their only son… So heh… I guess you really are a Grayson, more or less… forgive my poor humor. I'm just simply delighted to know that I can finally talk to you about everything that happened…"

Robin closed his eyes tightly and winced softly in pain. His body ached, his head stung, his mouth was burning and his left leg was numb. He was starving too, to make it worse.

_I shouldn't have… I should've listened to KF… he was right…Batman… where are you? Come help me… I'm sorry…_ he thought to himself between each mind-numbing throb of his body.

"Look at all I've done for you… you could almost say you owe me one. I mean, whatever have you done for me, besides aid in getting me arrested? So the least you could do to make up for it is listen… not that you have a choice…" another evil chuckle sounded and a cold chill ran through Robin.

Robin's hand slowly centimetered towards his utility belt. He had to call for help. Every time it moved though, a pain raced through his pain stricken body. He couldn't take much more of this. Robin felt a foot dig into his stomach, turning him over before he could grab his communicator. A foot planted down hard onto his chest. A cry escaped his lips again. At first the suede shoe just rested there. Then it continued to push down until the pain was unbearable. It blew out Robin's light in a second. The darkness grew stronger and stronger until it was whelming to say the least.

_I… help me… someone…_ passed through Robin's mind.

Then, finally, he was blessed with the wonder that came with unconsciousness.

**So, who do ya think it is? If you know me, you'll have known it from the start. No, it is not the Joker. And the smoking thing is just because I got bored… so yeah, review? Besides, next chapter'll probably be better… this one was definitely bad, I do admit. Trust me, just give me another chapterlicious chance before you flame. **

**-FJ3**


	2. Chapter 2

**Whenever I hold your wristband,**

**In this special way I do,**

**I feel like I'm clinging to**

**A small piece of you. **

**~I love you Chris~**

"You have to be afraid of something," Wally insisted, keeping pace with his black haired best friend.

Robin shook his head.

"I am Robin, sidekick of Batman. I fear nothing. Hear me roar," Robin joked in a deep voice.

Wally grinned, struggling not to laugh.

"Seriously dude, every human fears something," he said. "And sense you're the most human out of all of us, you have to have a fear."

Robin shot Wally a glare. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Wally adjusted his hoodie.

"Well, Superboy is from uh… well, same place as Superman and it's not on Earth so he's not human. Megan is from Mars. Kaldur is from Atlantis. Artemis is… uh… she's from… somewhere… and I'm from Nebraska. We all have powers. You don't. So by default, you're the most human out of all of us," Wally explained.

Robin rolled his eyes.

"That is so… uh… humanist?"

Wally smiled. "You can't even think of a comeback."

Robin frowned angrily.

"Fine then, if every one fears something, what are you afraid of?"

Wally's face reddened.

"Uh… well… when I get excited uh… my body vibrates really fast and I can uh… pass through solid objects without meaning too… I've always been afraid that I'd get excited and uh… slip through the Earth until I got to the core and burnt to a billion ashes…" he admitted.

Robin laughed at that.

"When you get excited, you turn into a human vibrator?" he clarified.

Wally avoided his friend's eyes, carefully keeping to the trail they were following.

"Shut up Rob."

Robin just smiled smugly. The two fell silent and their eyes, green and blue, followed the gravel path ahead of them. They could've taken their motorcycles, but they chose to walk. It was a nice day anyway. The walk to the beach would be nice. Robin's eyes glanced up at the forest around them and for a half second, he could've sworn he saw a figure in the woods. He froze and his eyes narrowed. Wally noticed and he turned around.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

Robin's trained eyes scanned the trees around him, but he didn't see the figure again.

"I… no… it's nothing," he said, turning around.

Wally frowned. Robin had his Robin face on, big time, whether he realized it or not.

"So, are you afraid of being followed?" he asked, curious.

Robin shook his head. "No."

Wally sighed. "Come on! There has to be something you fear! Clowns?"

Robin shook his head again. "When I was little, I had a few clown friends."

"Vicious dogs?"

"Batman and I worked with the K9 unit a lot. I'm fine with vicious dogs."

"Heights?"

"I use my grappling hook off of top buildings. I train on machines suspended 20 plus feet in the air. I'll dive off cliffs into the water for fun. I love heights."

Wally glared at the sunglasses wearing boy. He had to have a fear… something had to scare him. What scares thirteen year olds?

"Snakes? Spiders? Death?" Wally listed off three of his own fears.

Robin shrugged. "Death I guess, but that shouldn't count sense anyone under the age of 50 fears it. Everybody else is pretty much ready for it."

Wally nodded. Robin did have a point.

"Watching others die?"

Robin stiffened slightly.

"It's not so much a fear. It's more of a… causality, a distraction… something I can't stand. I'm not as afraid of it anymore though…" he half admitted.

"Alright, so I have death and a little bit on watching others die… Um, the dark?"

Robin just laughed at that.

"Got it, not the dark… small spaces? Crowded places? Fangirls?"

Robin shivered at the mention of the last one. "Definitely fangirls… definitely fangirls…"

Wally grinned. "I hear ya there. Fangirls are terrifying…"

Robin quickly glanced back at the woods out of habit. There was no one there though that he could see.

_You're just going paranoid is all… _he convinced himself.

"Blood? Hospitals? Pain?"

"Pain is the mind's fear of being hurt. You know that it's going to hurt from experience or you've been taught that it will, so because of fear, you have pain. So yes, technically, I fear pain. Blood and hospitals not so much."

"Know it all," Wally muttered under his breath.

Robin heard, but he said nothing. He knew it was true and he mostly loved it. He also enjoyed frustrating his friend. It was easy and took little to no effort.

"Come on! I won't tell anyone! Just tell me what you're afraid of!" Wally begged.

Robin smirked. His eyes wandered towards the ocean in front of him. It was really pretty looking to him, but it always was.

"Every fear I have, I've conquered," he insisted, adjusting the towel around his neck.

"Alright, then what _did _you fear?" Wally probed, not entirely believing his friend's words.

No one could conquer _all_ of their fears. Everyone still feared something. Robin contemplated whether or not to confide in his friend, but he decided to. It wouldn't be much harm to him now.

"I used to fear falling… not in love!" he quickly corrected at Wally's expression. "I mean like, slipping and just… just falling, unable to grab anything, unable to stop, only able to fall and b-break… But I learned that with my grappling hook, I can't. Besides, it's quick and after you've fallen, it's all over and it's quick…"

Wally raised an eyebrow. He had noticed Robin's voice falter at the word break. He made a mental note to probe Robin about it in the future. He also made mental of how suicidal Robin sounded when he said 'it's all over and it's quick'. It was almost as if he knew what it was like to fall and 'b-break'.

"Any more?" Wally asked.

He noticed that Robin had slowed his pace a bit, but he didn't care.

"Um… yeah… I used to fear losing those that I… that I love."

"How'd you conquer that fear?" Wally asked, surprised.

Robin set a hand on his neck.

"I… I guess I haven't really lost it, but I won't really have it happen. After l- er, being t- uh… after having to leave mo-… my parents to go with Batman, you kinda learn that once you have to live without them that you have to live with it," Robin phrased carefully.

That got Wally suspicious again. Robin had a hard time saying that…

"Why did you have to leave your parents? I'm the Flash's ex-sidekick and I see my folks a lot…"

Robin avoided his eyes and set a hand on his neck.

"Batman has a… um… Batman's orders," Robin lied.

Wally frowned.

"That's not right! He can't make you leave your parents! Did they allow it?" he asked, upset.

Robin shrugged. "Yeah, they didn't have… much of a choice…"

Wally folded his arms over his chest.

_Man, Batman's such an ass! He practically kidnapped Robin! Robin's parents must be… gah, they must be heartbroken! Living all this time without their little boy… _

"Well, what about me? Don't you _love_ me? Would you care if I just jumped off this path right now and took a tree to my stomach?" Wally teased.

Robin shrugged. "I dunno, I might care for the poor blood covered tree…"

Wally head slapped his friend. Robin winced and rubbed his head.

"KF, I was kidding! You know I'd care."

Wally smirked. "I thought so."

From the silence that followed, Wally figured that it was safe to assume that Robin didn't have any other fears.

"So, you ready for school tomorrow?" he asked instead.

Robin shook his head.

"No, not at all. Tomorrow's Monday and Monday is by default the worst day of the week."

Wally smiled. "Yeah… that's true… What is it about Mondays that cause everyone to hate them?"

Robin thought about it. "I dunno, maybe 'cause it's the first day of the week? 'Cause everyone goes back to work and school? You have to get up early?"

The two friends continued their walk towards the ocean, deep in conversation about Monday and why it's a horrible day of the week. Robin peeked a last glance at the woods, but the figure he had seen before wasn't there.

_Yup, looks like you lost your mind there for a second Rob_ he thought to himself with a smile.

XxXxX

The man laughed, taking the binoculars from his eyes. He couldn't believe that the boy hadn't noticed him.

"'Ey Tony, he's here. Guess his sidekick training didn't work out so well, ya? He didn't notice me," the man said into his radio set.

"Excellent…" came the reply. "Then he'll never know what hit him…"

**Alright, sorry this chapter was random, but I wanted a somewhat light hearted chapter before next and then the next because one of those has a depressing, dark scene in it. Review?**

**-FJ3**


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright, I know that Robin probably isn't allergic to peanuts, but 'ey, this is my story and no one asked you to read it if you don't like it. Thanks for reading and reviewing though… It really helps me out a lot... Madly in love with him still… He likes me… is that good? What do I do now?**

"Well, what do we do now?" the voice crackled over the radio.

The man listening to the radio sat atop the trees, his radio ear set in place. His eyes were watching the Wayne Mansion through his binoculars, just as he had been for the past two weeks.

"I say ve approach. Nozzing left to do, ja? Go in for ze kill?" the man asked into the radio gently.

A reply didn't come back for a while, but the man didn't mind. He was watching.

"No, we need the boy alive for now," Tony's voice came back, stable and cool as ever.

"And how do ya propose we do that boss?" the other voice asked.

Tony was silent.

"Vell, zhere are several vays to capture ze boy alive. Ve just need to make him vulnerable and grab him at ze right time," the man on the branch commented, lowering his binoculars so he could scratch his eyebrow.

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Tony's voice was still calm, not a hint of anger in it yet.

The man on the branch smiled softly to himself. Stefan had never been much of a smart kid in all of his classes growing up, but he remembered stuff pretty well.

"I know a couple zings I could slip in his food to keep him up all night. Zat vay, in ze morning, he is tired. Zen ve could slip somesing into his breakfast; say a hallucinogen, so he's tired and scared. He's allergic to peanuts too, if you vanted to add zat in," Stefan suggested.

A sudden autumn breeze passed him and he shivered. He never liked being the 'bad guy', but it paid good money that helped him support his three little girls at home. They were his little girls and he wanted nothing bad to happen to them, ever.

"Sounds good to me," the other voice on the radio laughed sadistically.

"Do it," Tony ordered and then a radio silence followed.

Stefan sighed softly beneath his breath, glancing through his binoculars. He saw the black haired boy, Richard if he remembered right, pacing about what looked like an exercise room. He seemed to be in pain, but mental. He had his hands clasped around his neck and was looking up at the heavens for an answer to some unasked question. He didn't seem to get one though.

XxXxX

Robin stumbled off of the school bus, his eyes half open. He was exhausted. Last night, he had gotten little to no sleep. He just hadn't been tired. His body was sore, his mind was numb, and he was convinced he was going insane. This morning, when he opened his eyes from an unsuccessful sleep attempt, he could've sworn that he saw zombies climbing up onto his bed, blood gushing from their various cuts, uncontrollable pained moans escaping their gaping mouths. He had screamed, getting the attention of Alfred and Batman, but they both said nothing was there. Robin had sensed that they thought he was insane, but they hadn't said it.

Robin willed his body to stumble forward and brush through the school doors, ready to drop dead. He passed a few friends who waved or said hey, but he didn't reply. He just kept stumbling forward. He was so tired. Maybe, if he found a good enough hiding spot, he could sleep all day. He smiled at the thought, but he just kept walking. He knew that if he fell asleep, he'd get ISS and he didn't want that. Batman would kill him if he got that. He tried his best to ignore the fact that the walls were on fire and entered the gym doors to sit with his friends, brushing past the forest full of fire breathing dragons. They seemed nice enough.

XxXxX

Robin cracked his knuckles, his eyes burning with the need for sleep. It was time for PE. That meant that lunch was coming up and he could get something to eat. He was starving. He smiled happily at the thought of that as he entered the locker rooms to change out. He glanced about, noticing the various different shades of tans, browns, reds and blacks scattered about the room, from the clothing to the people. Everyone was talking and arguing, but most of them seemed pretty happy. He walked over to his locker and pulled out his black shorts and a white t-shirt, changing into them, keeping to himself. He wasn't really for the idea of mingling. He liked being by himself mostly.

_So… would Superboy be human or Kryptonian? He was born here on Earth, but he was cloned from a Kryptonian man… well, that's kind of like giving birth I guess. If my parents were Martian but I was born here, I'd be part Martian, part American… right? No, I'd be Martian by heritage… but I'd be born on Earth… I'd be born looking like a Martian, talking like one and to a set of them, but I would be born on Earth… no, I'd be Martian then… so Superboy is Kryptonian? No! His dad isn't Kryptonian… he's just a copy… he isn't… _Robin thought to himself, his thoughts complex as always.

Robin enjoyed arguing with himself. It was a daily thing for him. Robin was a bit self conscious and arguing with himself always made him feel a little bit better. He slipped his white t-shirt over his head, shaking his black hair to make it messy again before jogging out of the locker room. He looked over the gym in surprise. It was full of 9th and 10th graders, as well as the normal 8th graders. Confused, Robin jogged up to Coach Morgan, his gym coach.

"What's up with all of the kids?" he asked, folding his well toned arms over his chest.

Coach Morgan didn't look up from his clipboard.

"Fitness testing today, the coaches thought it would be cool to mix all the grades to bump up the competition. Don't worry Dick, they won't bite… hard…"

Robin laughed.

"Yeah, I know. Thanks Coach," he nodded a farewell nod and walked off to begin walking around the gym like they were required too before the bell officially rung.

As always, he'd walk so he was behind two kids and listen to their conversation. If he didn't like it, he'd walk off to another group. That's how he found out stuff, no matter how creepy it was. They never noticed him anyway. Robin tended to go unnoticed because of how silent he was on his feet. He caught up behind two tenth graders, deep in conversation.

"So, can I call you Connie?" one of the boys teased the other, his voice familiar to Robin.

"No," the other boy said, standing a few heads over the red head beside him.

"How about Con?" the red head pressed, a grin on his face.

"No," the tall black haired, blue eyed boy said again.

His voice was emotionless.

"Then can I just call you Conner?"

"No."

Robin smiled softly to himself.

_Heh… Connie…_ he thought to himself, laughing on the inside.

"How about Supes? Supey? Superboy? Supah Boy?" the red head kept pressuring.

The redhead was knocked back several feet by the fist that shot out and punched him.

"No."

Then Robin realized how he knew that voice. He looked up at them in shock. It was Wally and Superboy. How had he not noticed that? He mentally roundhoused himself so hard that his eyes popped out of his skull. He hated being tired. It sucked. He forced himself to walk fast faster and he darted away from them, attempting to flee. He never made it that far. He felt a hand close down on his shoulder and he nearly leapt a foot into the air, scared stiff.

"Hey, why you running off? We don't bite… Well, I don't. I can't vouch for Connie here," Wally joked, obviously not having recognized Robin yet.

Superboy's eyes narrowed and he punched Wally again. Wally released Robin's shoulder to rub his own.

"Damnit Supes! That hurts!" he cried, in pain.

He shook off the pain and turned back to Robin, cocking his head to the side in interest.

"So, who're you? I don't think I know you…"

Robin cheered mentally at not being remembered, but he kept stable as ever on the outside. He just said nothing and turned away, starting to walk.

"Why do you have to be such a dick?" Wally yelled after him.

Robin laughed softly.

"Why do you have to be such a Wally?" he whispered beneath his breath.

He was still tired, but he was glad that he could still come up with comebacks, even if they were in his head. He couldn't believe that Wally and Superman hadn't recognized him. Was he really that different without his mask? He brushed the idea off after glancing up at the clock. It was ten minutes 'til lunch. Then he'd have thirty minutes left of PE to suffer.

_Wait, it's the… the Fitness testing today… oh yeah… time to kick some asses _his smile widened.

He still couldn't wait for lunch though. His stomach growled in agreement.

XxXxX

Robin walked into the gym, his stomach feeling tight, his throat burning. He set a hand to his head, confused. He wasn't used to this. Maybe he just wasn't feeling good. Maybe he was going to puke. Robin wasn't used to sickness. He clutched his stomach as he walked into the locker room and changed back into his shorts and his t-shirt. The pain didn't fade. It intensified. His throat grew dryer and more troublesome. His stomach became knotted with pain. He walked out of the locker room, clutching his stomach in pain. He didn't feel good at all. He looked up, attempting to find Coach Morgan. He needed to go to the nurse; now. Instead, he found Wally who chose to block his path.

"Come on mysterious short one! Who are you? You seem familiar to me," Wally said, looking the boy up and down.

Robin found that his throat kept getting troublesome. It got harder and harder to breathe.

"M… move," he choked out, trying to stumble past the red head.

Wally held out a hand, blocking his path. Robin's breath got faster and faster.

"Who are you?"

Robin couldn't force the words out of his closing throat. His breath kept getting faster. He _needed_ air, but he couldn't get enough. It wouldn't approach him. He couldn't breathe. Panic rang through his body and he clutched at his throat, desperate for air. Wally paled.

"W-What's going on?" he asked, scared. "You okay?"

Robin tried to gasp out for help, but he couldn't. He just shook his head, gasping more and more frantically.

"What's happening?" Wally was terrified.

He had never dealt with this before. He had no idea what was happening to Robin. He didn't even know it was Robin. All he knew was that a jerk in the 8th grade was hyperventilating. Suddenly, Wally felt a hand grip his arm tightly. The boy looked up at Wally with his piercing blue eyes which were full of fear.

"K… F," he forced the words out with the last breath he had.

He prayed that Wally heard as he collapsed to the ground, no air left in his body. The world blackened slowly in his eyes and Robin finally got to sleep. Wally had heard the KF comment. His eyes were wide with surprise.

"KF… only… Rob calls me… that… how does he know?"

Wally looked down at the boy and acted fast. He bent down and scooped up the unconscious boy in his arms and sprinted out of the room, as fast as his legs could carry him. The others watched, just as panicked, but no one stopped him. Wally glanced down at the boy.

"Could you be him…?" Wally shook his head at the thought.

"No, Rob wouldn't… he doesn't…"

For once, the redhead was speechless. All he knew was that this boy could possibly be Robin and that he had just passed out and it was half of his own fault.

**Sorry, bad chapter, don't lie, I know. Next chapter will elaborate on Robin's anaphylactic shock attack. Look it up. **

**And for my assignment at school, I need your guyses opinions on Young Justice. It can be on the show itself or the characters or a fan pairing or one character. It can be a flame or a fangirl thing. Just sign with your username because I'm kind of making it like a Young Justice Fangirl 'zine' for my class… So yeah… **

**Leave your opinion on Young Justice (or any of the options listed above), review or whatever else you like to do in reviews… **

**-FJ3**


	4. Chapter 4

_**There I go again, chasing you down again. Why do I do this? Over and over, over and over, I fall for you. Over and over, over and over, I try not to! Pain, without love, pain! I can't get enough! Pain, I like it rough, 'cause I'd rather feel pain then nothing at all… I will not die; I'll wait here for you. I feel alive, when you're beside me. I will not die! I'll wait here for you, in my time of dying… Give me a sign… I want to believe!**_

**I asked him if in the book I was writing, [he knows he and I are the main characters] if I could make it a romance novel. He didn't say no. He just grinned to himself, looked up at me with those glassy green eyes of his and said "Write the next chapter. I want to see what you can do. Then I'll tell you what I think." And in the chapter he read, my girl practically stated she loved him, three/four times. So, I'm scared to put what I want to, but like he said, he'll tell me, won't he?**

Richard lay on the nurse's table, his eyes weakly open. His lips were turning blue and he was getting paler by the second. Each breath, if it was even there, was so silent that his chest didn't even seem to move.

"What happened before he was like this?" the nurse demanded to know.

Wally fought to remember.

"He was… uh… his voice was weak and he was… he had trouble breathing and… ah…" Wally's voice was nervous and shaking as he paced back and forth, refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

_This is my fault! He asked me to move and I didn't! Why didn't I move? Oh God, why the hell didn't I move? _

The nurse forced Richard's mouth open. His tongue and lips seemed swollen. The nurse seemed to recognize this as she quickly dashed over to her medicine cabinets.

"I know I have one… it's… it's here somewhere," she muttered to herself, her eyes darting between the bottles of painkillers to headache medicine.

Wally forced himself to stop pacing.

_Calm down West, you aren't helping anyone by panicking. This kid, this blue eyed jerk, he's in trouble because you wouldn't move. The least you could do is stay calm and get out of the way. _

Wally stepped back and watched as the nurse dashed back to Richard's side, a strange case in her hands. She took off the casing, revealing an epi pen. Wally knew it from the episode of NCIS he had watched the night before, _Jet Lag_. It had been a great episode with lots of Tiva, although he was still a proud supporter of Tote, even though Kate was dead. She stabbed it into Robin's thigh and pressed the button on top. Robin didn't react. His chest stopped moving and his lips remained parted, as if he had hope for a last single breath. His eyes weakly turned to Wally before they fluttered shut. The black haired boy didn't improve.

"Isn't- isn't the epi pen supposed to help him?" the red head asked.

The nurse frowned, worry written across her face like the words from a story book page.

"Something's wrong… he…" her voice trailed off.

_This kid, he isn't getting better? Could he have been poisoned? Black Canary showed us the symptoms of that…this is so familiar… didn't someone at Mount Justice have a… an… uh… anaphylactic… uh… attack? No, shock. Anaphylactic shock…The result of an extreme allergy… Wasn't it Robin? Forever ago, Flash told me about it. He said that Robin took a bite of a cookie and started gasping and coughing before he dropped… Batman had a heart attack from… Maybe this kid is Robin? No, just because he said KF doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was someone's initials… _

Wally's thoughts froze when he saw the nurse bend over and smell Richard's shirt. He blinked in disbelief. When she stood back up right, she nodded her head.

"Thought so, peanut butter smell," she mumbled, pulling the boy's white shirt over his head.

She tossed it at Wally who flinched. He nearly dropped it, but he held tight to it for the moment. The nurse went back to her cabinets, pulling out another epi pen. She uncapped it, once again, and stabbed it into Richard's leg, pressing the button on top. The thirteen year old gasped weakly, his eyes swelling. Then his eyes closed again and he fell still. The nurse sighed, relieved. Wally stood there awkwardly in the corner of the room, watching the nurse and the boy. She went back over to the medicine cabinets and came back with an oxygen mask of some sort. It was a hand operated one. She pressed it over Richard's blue lips, already noting how some of the swelling was going down.

"Mr. West, could you fetch me one of the spare shirts?" the nurse called over her shoulder.

Wally had been to her office before to get new shirts because his weren't 'the appropriate kind' just because the school rules had probably been made by Hitler, so he was well aware of where they were. He strode over to her desk and opened the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out a black shirt. He dropped the white shirt lazily to the ground and walked up to the nurse, handing her the new shirt. She gestured for him to just lay it down on Richard's bare chest as a censor. He did that.

"Thank you," the nurse said curtly.

Wally nodded, and made his way for the door.

"Wait, Wally, let me write you up a pass. I don't want you to get a detention for wandering the halls," the nurse offered.

Wally nodded and approached her.

"Can you do me the favor of continuing to give him oxygen? I know that you know how to use it. It'll only be for a minute."

Wally nodded again and knelt beside Richard, continuing to pump fresh oxygen into Robin, slowly and rhythmically. She offered him a smile before getting to her feet and walking back to her desk to write him a pass. Wally's eyes wandered across Richard's face silently. The color was returning to his face and his lips weren't as blue. He still looked weak and frail though.

"Um… hey… uh… sorry about that," Wally apologized sheepishly to what he thought were unconscious ears.

Richard was wide awake beneath his closed eyes though. He smiled gently, still hungrily gulping up the oxygen as it was fed to him.

"N-Not… not mad… you…" the blue eyed boy took a deep breath, "you didn't know."

Wally smiled gently. He didn't recognize his best friend's voice because of how muffled and distorted it sounded beneath the breathing mask.

"Thanks for lying dude. You don't know how much better it makes me feel."

Richard struggled to swallow. He was relieved to be alive at the moment. He had thought, for that moment after he was picked up, that he'd never get to see Batman again. He had thought he'd go join his parents. That thought scared him.

"So, blue eyes, do you got a name?" Wally asked.

Richard was silent for a moment, debating whether or not to confine in Wally. He pretended as if he was just taking deep breaths for the moment.

"Y-Yeah," he said softly. "I'm Richard, but you can… you can call me Dick. Everyone… everyone else does."

Wally's smile widened. 

"Nice to meet you Dick. My name is-."

"W-Wally West…" Richard nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know you."

Wally raised an eyebrow, his green eyes full of surprise.

"How do you know my name?"

The phone rang sharply, slicing the blue eyed boy's words from his lips. He took that time to feed off of the air being given to him. He let his blue eyes fall shut.

"Mrs. Easter's office," the nurse answered the phone.

She listened. "Oh my… I-I'll be right there!"

"Wally, please just stay here with Richard. I'll return shortly," the nurse instructed before dashing out the door.

Wally raised an eyebrow and got to his feet, to curiously follow the nurse. He felt a hand close over his wrist, tight enough to hold him back, but weak enough not to hurt.

"P-Please don't…" Richard said softly. "Don't leave."

Wally turned around and faced his new friend.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Don't like being abandoned… I hate that… feeling," Richard explained.

There was something in the boy's voice that shattered Wally's broken heart even further in his chest. He knelt back to the ground beside the boy.

"Okay, I'll stay…"

Richard weakly released Wally's wrist, dropping his hand back down at his own side. He attempted to pull off the oxygen mask, but it seemed to be stuck to his face.

"Leave it. You have to breathe somehow," the redhead reminded him.

The blue eyed boy's eyes narrowed.

_Stupid oxygen… why can't I just be a fish? I wish I could breathe water. I wish I could live in water! I love water! In water, you've got super strength, you can fly and you always feel skinny! I should be a fish. Then, maybe I could be 'Barracuda' and Batman would be 'Sharkman'. That would be beast _Richard thought to himself, smiling to himself.

"Sorry I'm interrupting… your PE," he apologized.

Wally shrugged. "Nah, it's fine. Connie would've probably killed me anyway."

"Why… why do you call him that?"

Wally raised an eyebrow. "Call him what?"

"Connie… and Conner? Is that… his name?"

Wally nodded, setting one hand to his neck, the other still operating the breathing pump.

"Yeah, hard to believe, ain't it? I would've named him Tony or Thomas or something like that, not Conner," Wally laughed.

Richard grinned at the thought of going around calling Superboy Tommy.

"So, how did you know my name?" Wally asked.

Richard's grin faded.

"You're kinda famous around here," he half fibbed.

Wally straightened up, a certain glow encircling him.

"I am pretty awesome, aren't I?"

_That's one word for it_ Richard thought to himself.

"Where did the nurse go?" Wally asked the boy, before a silence could fall between them.

"Ashley Rank… another… seizure," Robin asked, fighting to keep his eyes open.

He was so tired, still. Wally was now suspicious.

"You know my name, talk when you're supposed to be healing and have super hearing. Now I'm curious. Who are you really Dick?" he teased.

Richard shrugged.

"Just another kid," he said simply.

Wally nodded.

"Me too. Heh, aren't we all just kids at heart?" he asked.

The two both exchanged smiles, both knowing the other was lying, but neither said anything about it.

_**Blank stares at blank pages~**_

_**Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend, somewhere along in the bitterness~**_

_**If I could fall into the sky, do you think time would pass me by? You know I'd walk a thousand miles, if I could just see you tonight~**_

_**There I go again, chasing you down again. Why do I do this? Over and over, over and over, I fall for you. Over and over, over and over, I try not to! Pain, without love, pain! I can't get enough! Pain, I like it rough, 'cause I'd rather feel pain then nothing at all… I will not die; I'll wait here for you. I feel alive, when you're beside me. I will not die! I'll wait here for you, in my time of dying… Give me a sign… I want to believe~**_

**Sorry, I've been listening to songs the whole while typing this so I had to type the lyrics to them. I'm in love and happy about it (: **

_**Head under water, the breathing gets harder, even I know that… **_

**-FJ3**


	5. Chapter 5

**Bleh… hate Hunter… why can't he just die? I DIDN'T NEED HIM TO POINT OUT WHAT I ALREADY KNEW! GAH! *smashes head hard into concrete wall* I thought I could trust Kyra… I THOUGHT SHE WAS MY FRIEND! I thought… I thought wrong… how could I so blindly give out my trust?**

Richard sighed, setting the towel around his shoulders and in bare chest.

"Do we have to do this tonight?" he asked Bruce, holding back a yawn.

Bruce nodded, holding up the small hand held mirror next to Richard's face, letting him see the back of his head in the big mirror behind him. He pointed out bits of hair.

"The brown is starting to fade back in," Bruce told his adopted son, a grim expression on his face.

Richard sighed and nodded, slipping the safety goggles over his eyes. He leaned his head over the sink.

"Ready when you are," he said, his voice muffled.

Bruce got down the black hair dye from the medicine cabinet, a frown on his face. He began to apply it to Richard's browning hair.

"You know I hate this just as much as you do. Besides, I'm missing work for this," Richard's adoptive father complained.

Guilt ran through Richard. "It's not my fault the school made me call you. I was fine after Wally helped me with the breathing pump."

"And are you sure that he didn't recognize you?"

"Yeah, positive. He thought I looked familiar, but he thinks I'm just a stuck up 8th grader named Dick."

Bruce smiled. "Good boy. Now, you sounded breathless on the phone; what happened to you?"

Richard's feint smile faded.

"Well, several things. This morning, something must have been slipped into my food last night because I didn't get any sleep and I kept seeing things. Then something must have been slipped into my clothes, probably peanut butter. I had an allergic reaction," Richard explained.

Bruce inhaled sharply.

"You don't think it's an accident, do you?" Richard asked, his voice shaking.

"Do you?" Bruce asked back.

"Not in the least."

"Any ideas on who could've done this?" Bruce asked.

"Not in the least," he repeated.

Richard truly had no clue. He thought of himself as hidden and off the charts. Someone so unknown couldn't have many enemies. Robin maybe, but not Richard Grayson. Richard Grayson was a silent nobody who no one gave a second glance to. He was but a schwa, always there and helping and seen, but never recognized.

"Could any one have figured out that you're Robin?"

Richard sighed. "I… I don't think so. Wally probes a bunch and does the most searching about me, but he didn't even recognize me."

Bruce detected the sigh.

"Cheer up Dick. Maybe after this… we could go to that little diner not to far from here?"

Richard grinned at that and Bruce noticed. He smiled too. He ran his gloved hands through his son's now darker colored hair, making sure to get every hair black. He loved his boy with every ounce of love he could manage in his underused heart, but he couldn't let his boy be known to the world. He wanted to keep his little Robin in the nest for just a little while longer, even though he knew that his baby boy was more then ready to fly.

"That sounds good…" Richard said softly, wrapping his cold bare arms around his cold bare chest.

The truth was that it did sound great. Richard loved being cared for from his adoptive father. It helped him, no matter how little. Nothing caused his smile to widen more then when Bruce reassured him that he loved him, in the adoptive father sort of way. Bruce tossed off his gloves.

"Alright boy," he patted the towel on Richard's shoulder. "Go take a shower, let the dye set in."

Dick smiled.

"Okay, then do we go?"

"After I give you a hair cut. Your hair is getting kind of long."

Dick frowned. "Gah… fine…"

He headed off towards the shower, throwing his towel onto the toilet seat. He rubbed his bare arms as a chill ran down his body.

_Who would want me dead? Maybe it was an accident… but who would accidently lace peanut butter in MY gym clothes behind MY locked gym locker? They must have done it during lunch but… I guess I could hack the cameras, see if I can see who slipped in… after the shower though. _

Before Richard could even turn the water on, his pocket began to vibrate. He sighed.

_Wally… set my phone… to vibrate… again…_

He slipped his phone from his pocket and slid it open, to see that he had a new text message.

**Hey**

That was all it said. It was from KF. Dick smiled.

_Figures_ he thought to himself.

**Txt u in a min. Gtg take a shower. BM's orders.**

He set his phone down in the corner of the room, out of sight before turning the water on, scalding hot, just the way he preferred.

XxXxX

Richard peeked in the steamed up mirror. His hair looked as black as ever. He stared at the mirror. The fog amused him. He held still and gently drew dots over his eyes and a smile over his lips. He drew a huge circle over his nose and a curly, clear afro on his head. He grinned and added a poofy shirt and a small ball in the clown's hand. He signed his name in the fog. _Dick Grayson ~ (: _He added the final eye to his smiley face before existing the bathroom in nothing but a towel, his phone in hand. He had received 6 new messages, all from KF. He sighed.

_God KF, just call…_he thought, irritated before entering his bedroom and going through his closet for a good pair of civvies.

He didn't have a lot of them that he liked. He just lazily grabbed a pair of dark jeans and a random colored hoodie before collapsing on his bed and looking through KF's messages.

**Dude, u missed it! 2day school, sum kid in ur grade, Dick Grayson, had an allergic reaction. I thnk he nos who I am b/c b4 he passed out, he grabbed my arm & said KF. Then, we started tlkn in da nurses office. Hes nice, but hes so familiar. Do u no him?**

**Do u no who the hell Rebecca Black is?**

**DON'T LISTEN TO FRIDAY BY REBECCA BLACK! MY EARS _ **

**Y aren't u at Mt Justice?**

**Where r u?**

**Rob? **

Robin sighed and picked up the phone, dialing Wally's number. He pressed the phone against his shoulder, holding it against his ear as he got dressed.

"Speedster talking?"

Dick smiled.

"Hey dude, so, talk…"

He could practically feel Wally's grin.

"So, at school today…"

XxXxX

Richard scrambled down the steps, in a dark pair of jeans and a gray hoodie with what looked like a black shirt peeking out from beneath it. He had a pair of sunglasses slipped over his blue eyes and his hair lay perfect against his head, just a bit shorter then before. He had his hands thrust into his hoodie pocket.

"Goodbye Alfred; we're heading out," Robin told their servant.

"Goodbye Master Richard, Master Bruce," Alfred nodded to them as the two headed down to the garage to take their civilian car.

He frowned gently as he watched them leave, but he shrugged it off. It was nothing new to him for them to leave with little to no explanation. They were Batman and Robin, the Dynamic Duo. That's all he needed to know.

XxXxX

"So, do we grab him tomorrow?"

"Not we," Tony replied simply.

"What do you mean?"

"I have hired a bunch of… thugs… who can assist me. _I _will grab the boy. Then, I decide what to do with him."

And with that, the line went dead.

**I'm jealous… heh… that makes me laugh. I love him so much I've become jealous of every smile he gives out, every laugh he releases, every girl who giggles or smiles at him… Oh well, I still love him and I know he loves me, so what more really matters? Should I write some song fics? I have some ideas, so tell me what you think:**

**Innocent by Taylor Swift [About Robin]**

**Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton [About Robin and his parents and Batman]**

**Never too Late by Three Days Grace [About Wally and Robin]**

**Superman by Five for Fighting [About Superboy]**

**[Any Recommendations would be appreciated; I really want to write a songfic, even if it is for a pairing I don't support]**

**-FrankandJoe3**


	6. Chapter 6

**The human throat is disgusting. I hate it. Mine is all swollen and my tonsils are all enlarged and puffy and it hurts to swallow and… just ew…. Ew… EW! BLEH! So yeah, I guess I should update… gah, it hurts though… WHY ARE HUMANS SO DISGUSTING! D: Simple K, 'cause we're humans. We're analogues made of meat, all the way through. I bet we're kind of like steak and hamburgers, you know, taking forever to cook all the way through and when we're done cooking, we can be burnt, well done, rare, medium, raw or super hard to chew. I bet I'd taste disgusting… I'd fall right off the bone with all these holes in my arms and legs…**

Richard secured his dark gray jacket around his body and buttoned it up another button to block out the cold. He gripped his binder tightly in his arms, keeping his blue eyes low and level. He walked down the school's sidewalk, avoiding others' gazes. Today was Wednesday, the hump of the week, the one day that he despised more then Monday. It meant that he had only suffered halfway through the week and he had another half to suffer through. The wind was rough and nasty, whipping at his pale face angrily. He bowed his head in defeat to the wind and continued pushing forward.

His neat hair was messed up violently, but he didn't think hard on it. He could always fix his hair if he had to. He didn't intend to though. To be honest, the boy despised walking to school during the winter, but Bruce had been kind enough to drop him off halfway.

"Hey Dick! Nice weather we're having!" one of Richard's friends yelled sarcastically over the roar of the wind.

Richard hadn't seen him walk up so he nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned to face his friend and smiled.

"Yeah! Beautiful outside!" he yelled back, struggling to say on his feet.

He closed one eye against the wind and turned to face the blonde boy beside him. He saw his lips move, but he couldn't hear him.

"What!" he shouted.

He focused on his friend's lips as they moved this time.

"Isn't that your dad?" his friend asked, gesturing behind him.

Richard turned in surprise to see a plain black car parked across the street, someone sitting in the front seat. The license plate number was the same as Bruce's. Richard raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah… that is him…" he muttered, slowly waving goodbye to his friend. 

_What's Batman doing at my school? Why isn't he moving? Is he okay? _

Richard looked both ways before crossing the street, his binder still in his arms. He darted across the pavement and walked up to Batman's black civilian car. He looked in the driver's side window. The window was slightly tinted so he couldn't see how Bruce was, but he wasn't moving, causing Richard to worry. He knocked on the window.

"Bruce? Are you okay?" he screamed over the wind into the window.

The man inside didn't move. He grabbed onto the door handle and yanked it open. Nothing possibly could've prepared him for what happened next.

"Just peachy hon," a feminine voice giggled, laced with a southern drawl.

An arm was thrown around his neck and tightened, pulling him back away from the car. The person in the car sat up and unbuckled their seatbelt, showing Richard a face that he had hoped he would never see again as long as he lived. Adrenaline ran through him and he wrestled out of the woman's choke hold and managed a kick behind her knees, throwing her to the ground. He leapt backwards, reaching into his pocket for his utility belt. Before he could unfold it, it was kicked from his hand by a figure behind him. He growled and spun around, blocking the foot from hitting his head before he flipped out of the way. He made sure to drop his binder. It wasn't that important to him at the moment. He needed to call Batman.

He took note of his surroundings before springing into battle. There was a woman to his seven, with sizable and notable muscles, not to mention a gun sticking from her front left pocket. To his three, there was a man with bulging arms and legs, all from pure muscle. He had a huge, deep scar running down his left eye, along with a wide, jagged knife in his right hand. To his twelve, there was the man he had prayed to never see again his life. He was a fat man to be honest with a deep line through his forehead and a nice suit, not to mention classic black Italian styled hair. Richard was up against two assassins and a fat man who probably wouldn't leave Bruce's civilian car. He surely wasn't outnumbered, but he didn't like his odds.

He was without his utility belt so if something went wrong, he couldn't call for help. The only weapons he had on him were his fists, his feet and his mind. It would help if he had his utility belt, or even one object from it, but he was stranded. Richard felt like Hawaii to the United States. He was so distant, but he was there and holding on.

_Have some faith in yourself Dicky boy… If I can fight off 20 men with big guns, I can fight off two people and a fat man_ he told himself. _I just need to buy time. Batman will notice his car is gone and come after it…_

"A Bonnie and Clyde battle eh? And you even brought ole' Uncle Tony to assist you? How original," he scolded them over the sound of the wind.

"Bonnie my ass young'in'," the woman snapped, making a move for her gun.

_If there was ever a time that I was thankful for my bullet proof suit, it's now_ he thought to himself.

He was glad for the cold. If it hadn't been cold, he wouldn't have worn his suit beneath his clothes. He was going to change out of them when he got to school of course, so he wouldn't look stupid. The woman charged at him, the gun tight in her hand. The man charged at him too. He looked between the two, trying to decide which to go against: gun or knife.

_I'm bulletproof. Going after Bonnie_ he decided.

He barreled his head forward and bounded towards the woman. She stopped and brought up her gun, her finger flying to the trigger. Richard's eyes were focused on her finger as he began to swerve through the grass, continuing towards her. He heard the first shot and ducked out of the way, never stopping. He had to get the gun. That's all he was focused on. The gun fired three more times. Richard managed to dodge all but the last one that nicked his shoulder. He let out a cry of pain, but never stopped. The woman sensed the boy's determination and leapt back on instinct, dodging out of his way, continuing to shoot at him. Clyde continued to approach from the back, knife in hand.

Richard felt his hard eyes on his neck and dropped to the ground, just missing the knife's blade. He scrambled to his feet and dashed through the grass, greatly hating the wind as it tried to sweep him off of his feet. He was going to get his utility belt. His shoulder pounded with nerve racking pain from the bullet, but he knew that it hadn't punctured his skin. He dove into the grass with a wince and unfolded the small yellow rectangle, unfolding one of the pockets. The woman and the man were advancing on him, Tony Zucco smiling smugly from the front seat in the car. He grabbed his communicator as fast as he could and got back to his feet, jumping out of the way of several bullets that punctured the grass by his feet.

"This isn't tag! Stand up and fight!" the Clyde of the two growled furiously.

Richard brought the communicator to his lips with his left hand, seeing that his right wasn't going to do him much good.

"Help. Gotham Academy. Knife, Gun, Escaped Prisoner. I have been shot. Any available people please assist," he said quickly.

"Calling for back up? Come on, we aren't that bad," the woman taunted, dropping her gun to the ground.

Richard took a single glance and could tell it was empty for now. She was out of bullets. That was good. Now all he had to do was disarm the man. There came the problems. The words of Ziva David rang through his head.

_We have a saying in Mossad. Knives don't run out of bullets_ he remembered, a frown on his face.

_So I have the option to disarm him now or wait for back up_ he decided.

He tried to make it look as if his right arm wasn't in as much pain as it was. He continued to jump back, looking for another weapon he could use. He knew that he could use the butt of the gun on them both, but that would be pointless. If he got close, he'd get stabbed. He couldn't risk it, but he couldn't just stand there and get killed. He was down an arm. He was a beached whale on the shores of Mexico. With all of those Mexicans running around, he wasn't going to get anywhere anytime soon unless a miracle came about him.

XxXxX

Wally dashed down the sidewalk, his head turning right and left.

_Please let me be in time_ he thought furiously to himself.

His legs kept moving faster and faster until he was just a blur of jeans and his red jacket. His eyes scanned the front of the building. Then he saw it. It wasn't Robin, but he knew he could help. There was a boy on the ground from the looks of it, screaming. There was a man on top of him, his foot pressed against his chest. There was a woman next to him, pressing something to his throat. Wally acted fast. He knew that whoever he saw couldn't handle himself, but Robin could for a bit longer. He dashed across the yard and tackled the man and woman away from the boy. They hit the ground hard. The man in the car got out slowly, unnoticed by the red head.

The boy on the ground's screams continued as he clutched at his chest angrily. His eyes were closed so tight, Wally was afraid that they would snap. His nails dug into his now bloodstained jacket and heavy tears fell from his eyes. His breath was staggered. Wally knelt beside the boy and quickly pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed 911. The boy reached up and grabbed at Wally's arm, trying desperately to get his attention, not stopping his agonizing screams.

"Yes, please help. I found a boy here and he's covered in blood and it looks like he got shot and he's… he's screaming…"

The 911 operator's voice was a slur in Richard's ears as he tugged harder on Wally's arm. His eyes were behind the redhead.

"In front of Gotham Academy," Wally replied quickly, completely oblivious to the man behind him.

Richard bit his lip as hard as he could as he sat up and shoved Wally out of the way as the gun was fired. The bullet punctured Richard's bulletproof suit's lining, causing no official tear, but it still hurt like hell. He screamed furiously, now clutching at his entire chest that was pounding and roaring furiously. Wally's eyes widened as he stared up at the Italian gun man in front of him. He leapt to his feet and tackled the man to the ground, or so he tried. A small needle punctured his chest, causing him to freeze where he was. He fell backwards and lay there for a moment before darkness took him over.

Richard's eyes widened and he reached for his utility belt, despite what his muscles screamed at him. He opened a pocket and grabbed the Batarang, a tool familiar to him. Before Tony could fire the needle into Richard's chest, Richard forced himself forward and dug the sharp batarang deep into the back of his first time enemy's knee. The man let out a cry as he tumbled to the ground, the gun slipping from his grasp. Richard pressed the batarang deeper and deeper into the man's leg until his muscles sobbed from the effort. He let his body finally rest, anger overtaking him. He wanted to kill the man there, but he didn't have the strength.

"Rot in Hell," Richard growled before his consciousness was lost to him.

Tony laughed weakly, pain racing through his body.

"Not… without you…" he said simply, getting weakly to his feet, yanking the boomerang from his knee with a huge wince.

He attempted to bend down and pick up Richard, but the sound of sirens filled his ears. His eyes widened and he limped back to the car he had stolen, sitting down with a wince. Without more then a second thought, he floored the car and tore out of the parking lot, abandoning the unconscious bodies.

"**It's a dinner theatre for the audience of one. Let the curtain go down**.**" New NCIS tonight, we get to meet Renaissance Ray, Ziva's boyfriend. I'm praying that him and DiNozzo fight. I love seeing Tony get jealous… TIVA FOREVE. **

**-FrankandJoe3**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sometimes disappointment is the worst kind of pain someone can inflict on you. **

**~You might as well throw gasoline on an open fire with the way you lie~**

"**Did you reunite our heroes?" "No, but I'm married."**

The first thing Wally heard was the frantic typing of a keyboard. It caused his head to throb. He opened his green eyes in annoyance and frowned. He saw Robin sitting up in a bed not far from his own, typing in a blind fury. His shirt was off and was coated in heavy, blood stained bandages. His right arm was in a huge cast, but there was still a computer bound around it and he was typing at it as if his life depended on it. Even with his shades on, he had an angry, determined look on his face. Wally's eyes hovered on his best friend's blood soaked chest.

"R-Rob… Robin… what happened to you?" Wally asked weakly.

The ebony haired boy hadn't expected to hear a voice so he nearly jumped out of his skin, wincing as his chest stretched. He rubbed one of the lower bandages on his stomach in pain as he turned to face the red head.

"Ran into a knife a dozen times and got in the way of a bullet is all," he smiled weakly.

Wally wasn't in a laughing mood for once in his lifetime.

"I'm serious… what happened? Where are we?"

Robin's eyes trailed back to his computer and he resumed typing.

"I went empty handed to a gun and knife fight at school, you tried to help and we both got our asses kicked. We're in the hospital. They found some unknown toxin in your bloodstream from a puncture wound in your chest and they're trying to figure out what it is," he explained, his eyes scanning the holographic screen.

Wally blinked in surprise, but didn't say anything for a bit. He just listened to the rhythmic typing of the keys, trying to think of the proper question to ask.

"Explain further on the gun and knife fight," Wally requested.

Robin's eyes never left the computer screen.

"I got attacked on the way to school, I called for help, and you came. End of story."

"You got attacked and called for help? Why do I find that hard to believe?" Wally teased.

Robin rolled his eyes. "If my arm wasn't in a cast, I would get up and pimp slap you."

Wally laughed gently. "I know… and you'd _love_ it."

"That's the sad part," Robin admitted, a smile on his lips, but his eyes distant.

Wally nearly drifted off at the calm and constant rhythm of the keys, but he fought to stay awake. He found that he was surprisingly tired at the moment, as if he hadn't slept in 72 hours at least.

"Rob… what are you looking up?"

The blue eyed boy stopped typing and set his casted arm down on his knee, rubbing his sore chest.

"I… I dunno… I'm just killing time until Batman comes to check in on me or calls or something… His car got hijacked, so he's off looking for it I suppose."

"Something from Batman got stolen and you called for help. The world must be ending," he teased.

Robin's eyes narrowed.

"Like I said, pimp slap…"

Wally just smiled. "Seriously though, if you were killing time, you'd be throwing paper into the trashcan or you'd be having some kind of war with me with paperclips or something. You're working on something and I can feel it with my spidey-sense."

"You don't have a spidey-sense. You don't even have a gut," Robin shot back.

"Well, I can feel it in my bones. I can feel and hear your Robin vibes bouncing off of you and stuff."

"Robin vibes?" Robin laughed at that, lying down in the white hospital bed.

He closed his eyes tightly against the pressure and pain of his chest. He clutched at it, ignoring his computer for a moment.

"You know, the Batman face, the 'all-work-no-play' voice, and the fact that your attention is based solely on one thing… you're working on something and I know it!" Wally insisted.

Robin just nodded. His body hurt something awful; despite the pain medicine he was being given.

_Need to keep typing… gah… _he thought to himself.

He brought his computer close to his face and resumed typing, only slower and more well paced this time.

_If I keep typing this fast, I may get a carpal tunnel_ he thought to himself, stopping to pop his thumb.

It always began to ache after he typed for a long while. Wally's eyes drifted closed again, the slower pace of the keys like a lullaby to him. Robin finally pulled up the Gotham prisoners' page and scanned it. Just as he suspected, Tony Zucco was on the page still and it said that he was supposed to be there for a life sentence. Robin raised an eyebrow and exhaled sharply in pain.

_I definitely saw Zucco in the car and I saw him attack KF. Why does it say he's still in the prison? _

He tried switching the web page to the local news with success. He scrolled through the recent news. Just as he suspected, it mentioned a recent prison break and they issued several BOLOs for several prisoners, one being Tony Zucco and two of the others listed being the Bonnie and Clyde he had faced up against. His frown deepened and he made note to tell Batman of it later. He looked deeper into the escape. It wasn't that crafty. Someone snuck in, drugged the guards and unlocked the cells. It must've taken a bit of planning, but it was all possible and accomplishable.

_So they're crafty… and violent… and good with weapons. Batman's going to _love_ to hear this_ Robin thought to himself with a weak sigh.

He regretted it almost immediately, but he didn't care for now. His chest pain was the least of his worries.

XxXxX

"_I promise you, I'm fine for now. [groan] Just, if you visit, wear shades or something. KF's here and… suspicious… [sharp inhale] I'll… I'll see you then I guess. Robin out,_" the recording played again in Batman's ears.

_You aren't 'fine'_ Batman thought furiously, his eyes masked behind shades of some sort that masked his identity and didn't make him look stupid.

His hands gripped the wheel of his rented car. He still hadn't located his civilian car, but he vowed to mount the head of whoever took it in Richard's room so he could draw on it with Sharpie before he tossed it into the Red Sea. Then he saw it. The Gotham Hospital was just up ahead. His frown deepened and he sped up the best he could. He didn't want to be too late for anything.

"_Robin out_," the recording ended again.

Batman pocketed his phone and threw the car into park near the front of the building in an empty spot. He leapt out and proceeded to walk with his _I'm-Busy-And-Don't-Give-A-Shit _walk, speeding fast down the sidewalks. Robin's soft groan and his wince kept ringing in his ears, as well as Robin's first words.

_I'm fine for now_.

_Yeah, for now _Batman thought to himself, biting onto his lip as he entered the hospital. _But what about later?_

XxXxX

Robin clutched his stomach angrily.

"I won't take them!" he insisted at the doctor in front of him.

"Sir, you have to or we can't perform surgery!" the doctor ordered.

"You already surgerized my body when I was unconscious! I don't know what the hell you did to me, but I'm hurting! I want a lawyer!" he screamed stubbornly.

Wally grinned softly as he lay there, trying to drift off again.

"Just take the pills," the doctor commanded.

Robin pressed his good hand over his mouth.

"Nuh uh!" he cried, muffled.

"Please, Mr. Gra-," the doctor began.

"Leave him alone. If he wants to talk to a lawyer, let me talk to him for a little. I won't let my son take any pills that I haven't checked over for toxins or poisons," Bruce Wayne told the doctor.

The doctor sighed furiously.

"Mr. Wayne? Uh, your son has a bullet in his shoulder still and a knife blade imbedded deep in his stomach. If we don't operate, he could die," the doctor said, handing the pills to Bruce.

Bruce's eyes widened, but he knew he had so much to say. He turned to Robin and saw that Robin had something to say too.

"Give us a moment."

The doctor shrugged and left the room, angry. Bruce knelt beside him.

"Richard, who did this to you?" he whispered into his adoptive son's ear.

"Zucco…" Robin whispered.

Bruce leapt back in shock.

"He escaped… and he's after me…"

Bruce frowned deeply and forced his son's hand open.

"Eat the pills, get the surgery. You need to heal. I'll stop him and I'll protect you… again," Bruce promised.

Robin smiled and choked down the pills.

"If I remember right, it was me who protected you… last time," he teased as the pills began to do their work.

Bruce patted Robin's hand.

"I'll see you when you get out," he assured the boy, the only way he knew how.

It was then that Bruce saw how vulnerable his boy was pale, without a lot of his blood, weak… It broke his heart to see that. The thing that truly broke his heart though was the fact that Robin still managed to keep hold of his mask, holding that same heart warming smile on his lips.

"See you… then…" he said before his blue eyes fell shut.

Bruce took a seat in the room next to the bed, entwining his fingers and resting his elbows on his knees. He watched the doctors cart away his boy, his whole world, and all the while, the gears in his head were spinning. He was going to save his little boy if it was the last thing he did.

**Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are so rip offs of Batman and Robin. "Leaping Lizards, Mermaid Man!" Barnacle Boy says… heh, so cruel… I wondered why I liked Barnacle Boy so much… They copied 'The Raging Whirlpool' from the Flashes. And they can call sea creatures just like Aquaman… **

**My shadow flickers… it isn't strong enough to be a shadow. It's as if I'm not real… I'm just slowly flickering from existence into the nothingness.**

**And this is sort of like, my apology for the argumentative side in Never Too Late, a depressing fic if there ever was one. For some reason, I'm kind of like, in a loving mood, but not the head over heels kind. I'm in the family love mood… **

**-FrankandJoe3 *Half the time the world is ending; truth is I am done pretending***


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you all for the help! You have no idea how much it makes me feel better! Just in case you were wondering, he's 13 and I'm 12, so get off the idea that I'm your all's ages. I'm still scared to tell him, but I know that he likes me, so I can do this! **

**Alright, I'm going to type this out and try to go longer then the usual five pages I type… but my head is up in the clouds still… I'm mad in love with an amazing blonde boy with glassy green eyes… If I could grow a bit taller, I could kiss him and I don't want anything more then that at the moment, besides to skydive through a cloud and to get a five foot blue gummy bear… But I want to kiss him more then that. Hard to believe right? So yeah, time to update… *head still in the clouds***

Bruce's eyes scanned the computer screen, the same intimidating look over his face. His eyes, hard as ever, read words he had read dozens of times now to distract himself. No matter how many times he read it though, he couldn't hear it in his head. He was distracted, his eyes blurred.

_I hope they managed to get the bullet and knife out… if they hurt him I… I'll kill them myself! I'll take the knife blade and hack their heads off! I'll kill them all with that single bullet! If they can't save him, then they're all going to die! I'm not losing my little boy… I've lost so much, and so has he. I'll never forgive myself if I let him lose himself and me at the same time. _

"M-Mr. Wayne?" a confused voice asked weakly.

Bruce was snapped from his thoughts and he looked sideways. Wally was sitting up in his bed, a hand weakly over a part of his chest that seemed to hurt him. The red head was glancing at the bed beside Bruce which was empty now, as it had been for three hours now.

"W… Where's… Where'd he go?" Wally's voice was slurred softly.

He swallowed hard. Bruce blinked slowly, trying to decide whether or not to answer the boy. It was pointless. Nothing said he had to answer the kid. It wasn't like he would tell his uncle who would yell at Bruce later. Wally didn't seem to recognize Bruce as his mission leader, just as Bruce Wayne, the owner of Wayne Tech. He wasn't going to answer the boy. That is, until Richard's words rang through his head from earlier before.

"_Batman, don't be so hard on him. He's my best friend! He's the closest I've got to a brother nowadays."_

"_I don't see how you can possibly stand him. He's annoying, careless and doesn't obey most direct orders!"_

_Richard smiled. "He makes me feel like a rebel sometimes. He treats me as if I'm a person, not a sidekick. He makes me feel human. Try to support that. If I want him to be my best friend because he's the only one I can trust, he'll be my best friend."_

"_Yes… but people aren't east to trust. Keep your words to yourself."_

"_I always do… but he's different! He wouldn't tell anyone! He trusts me and protects me! He's my only other family besides you. Just trust me for once. You've taught me well enough. I can handle myself, promise!"_

"He is… still in surgery," Bruce replied, his voice way lower then needed.

Wally raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

_Man, the camera totally lightens his voice… and adds ten pounds… and makes him look taller… and happier_ the red head thought to himself.

"Do you think he'll be okay?"

Bruce exhaled softly, his eyes staring blankly at the computer screen. He didn't answer. Truth was, he didn't want to say what he thought. He had faith normally in Richard. He had seen the black haired boy do extraordinary things before, from being able to rip the door off of a car in pure fear to being able to jump across a ledge stretching twelve feet across during a training simulation. He had seen Richard survive shattered ribs and a broken heart, as well as a broken arm from a simulation taken too far or a fight at school that he had gotten into, although he always claimed that the other guy made him look like a beauty queen.

He had also seen his boy been able to outrun some with super speed, if only for a few seconds, get better accuracy on the bow and arrow then Artemis and had seen him handle his time in the water without an air mask in a way that almost outmatch Aqualad. Richard could obviously handle himself, but this was different. This time, he had a bullet in his shoulder and a piece of knife in his chest. Bruce had never trusted doctors to begin with, so he had little to no faith that they could extract the bullet and the knife blade without hurting his adopted son. One of his hands curled up into a tight fist and his worry only intensified.

"Mr. Wayne? Why are you here? Do you know R-… er, him?"

Bruce swallowed hard and released a breath that he didn't know he had been holding. He reached into his back pocket. Wally watched, interested. Bruce came back with a small canister in his hand that looked like one of those sour candy sprays you can buy at Wal-Mart. Wally smiled at that. It looked good with bright pink and green colors.

"What's that?" he asked, curious.

Instead of replying, Bruce held it up and sprayed it in Wally's face. Almost instantly, Wally collapsed onto his pillow, his eyes falling shut just as fast. Bruce took no care and tucked the canister back into one of the hidden pockets of his utility belt and turned his attention back to the computer screen.

_Thank the Lord for the sleeping spray I stole from the Joker… Just a bit of research into it and it can stop idiotic red heads from knowing too much… _Bruce thought inside, forcing himself to focus on the page.

Still though, the words were hard to focus on. He caught only glimpses of words, but glimpses were all he needed for now.

**Explosion… aid of others… unknown… whereabouts… If you see them… **

Throughout it all, he understood only that outsiders had exploded the wall they were in, but only after drugging all of the guards, eliminating the purpose for the explosion. Three people were missing from the breakin: Tony Zucco, Amanda Perry and Thomas Haileeson. Amanda and Thomas were paid, contract killers, and Tony was a heartless, cruel gang boss who was a murderer of several, including the Graysons.

"Excuse me, Mr. Wayne, the doctors wish to see you," a nurse passing by said into the room.

Panic filled Bruce, but he masked it with a curt nod. He closed his laptop before setting it back in his briefcase, which he picked up before following her out of the room. He walked slowly down the white hallways, feeling strangely claustrophobic at the hospital smells. The smells made him sick to his stomach, but he kept the feelings to himself. Before he knew it, he was in another room with more of that damned color white. There were several beds all lined up in a row, all occupied. Most of the patients honestly looked dead as they lay there, pale and motionless, but their heart monitors said otherwise.

"Over there," the nurse gestured to the far edge of the room before leaving.

He nodded weakly and started across the room, his breathing slow and careful. There was a doctor standing over the bed, a blue mask over his face, a clipboard in his hands. He was taking notes on the boy lying motionless on the bed in front of him. It didn't take Bruce long to recognize his adopted son motionless on the bed. Richard's eyes weren't dancing beneath their lids; his chest didn't rise or fall; in fact, he seemed quite lifeless as he lay there. That didn't help Bruce's state.

"Is he… okay?" Bruce asked uncertainly.

The doctor looked up at him, surprised to see him there. He lowered his mask and cleared his throat.

"The surgery was a success. We managed to extract both the blade and the bullet without harming him. He should be resuming consciousness within the next few hours."

Bruce nodded gravely.

"How soon can I… how soon can I take him back home?"

The doctor frowned in thought.

"Um… it'll be a few weeks most likely, depending on how fast he heals."

Bruce nodded and stared down at Richard, his heart heavy. His hand tightened on his briefcase. He couldn't stay here. If he did, he could do nothing more then further endanger Richard's life. He swallowed hard and turned his eyes from Richard's motionless body.

"If we awakens, tell him I had to get back to work," Bruce said gently before turning and walking briskly from the room.

The doctor raised an eyebrow, but he just nodded obediently and walked away from the unconscious figure of Richard Grayson, not giving him more then a second thought.

XxXxX

Richard's eyes opened weakly and he found his throat surprisingly dry. He looked around, confused. Where was Batman? Where was Wally? Where was he? He looked down at his bare chest and paled. There were huge stitches across his stomach, not to mention dried blood on the bandage that surrounded it.

"B-Bruce…?" he asked softly.

"Sorry hon, he said that he had to get back to work," a female voice said gently.

Richard frowned, tears glazing his eyes briefly.

"Oh…"

_Doesn't it figure? I get shot and stabbed and that man can't turn away from his work… he acts like it would kill him to even pretend to care for me_ Richard thought, a soft depression settling on him like snow on a beautiful winter day.

He closed his eyes again and bit his lip gently. It wasn't necessarily for the pain his body felt, but for the pain in his heart. He felt as if it was shattered inside of his chest and as if he was bleeding on the inside.

_Oh… I wish you'd care for me… I wish… I wish a lot of stuff… I just want to go home… _

**I think Robin should be called Dick Wayne or Richard Wayne because he was adopted, after all. Two guys in my class were adopted, and they took their adopted parents names! (OG people, correct me if Aaron and Andrew's folk's last names aren't Carpenter). **

***I'm losing it! Every move I die! I'm fading, I'm broken inside!***

**-FrankandJoe3**


	9. Chapter 9

**This chapter was inspired by 'Welcome to Happy Harbor' which was on last night. I saw how Rob looked so uncomfortable when the seat's automatic seatbelts sort of grabbed him and it sort of inspired this… (:**

He managed a staggered breath, despite the tight boundings around his chest. He could feel no more then those boundings and the needle that punctured the back of his hand. He couldn't think straighter then a bent elbow, but he could think straight enough to get that something was wrong. He forced his blue eyes open and looked around, his heart hammering in his chest. Everything was blurred, but he could tell that something was wrapped tight around him. Even his hands were bound tight to his sides. He ripped them from the boundings and yanked the long tube from the back of his hand and clawed at the boundings furiously.

They were strong, but paranoia prevailed once again. He watched as his hands tore the boundings right down the middle. The second he could worm out, he did. A gasp escaped his lips as pain attacked his midsection. He felt as if something was inside of him, clawing at his body. He clutched at his chest angrily and stumbled from the bed, only to drop to the ground. His legs groaned in anger at him, but Richard refused to listen. He was far too stubborn. He struggled to his feet and leaned on the wall for support.

_Where… where am I? Why is my head…? I can't think… got to escape _he thought, the effect of the medicine getting to his head.

He stumbled down the room, leaning on to bed rails and the wall to keep him supported, all the while clutching his chest.

_Must… find… KF… Batman… Need… help…_he thought.

He winced as the roaring in his chest intensified. A whimper escaped his lips, but he ignored it. It wasn't that important to him. He pushed past doctors in their white coats and staggered through the door out to the hall. He felt a hand close down on his arm. True, he may have overreacted when he ninja kicked the innocent doctor in the jaw, but he was delusional, what did they expect? He brushed back the doctors that came towards him, reaching for his utility belt. Richard's heart nearly stopped when he realized that it wasn't in its regular spot.

_Disarmed… and injured… this isn't good… _

He quickened his step, ducking his head down to hide the tears of pain in his eyes. He didn't surrender to pain. No, pain surrendered to him. Just when he had the elevator in his sight, he felt two hands close down on both of his arms, forcing him to his knees. He tried to struggle, but he didn't have enough strength.

"So… is it Richard Wayne now?" a familiar voice asked Richard.

The boy blinked slowly, but his blurry vision only worsened. He swallowed hard and tried to stay upright.

"Not… Wayne… just… Grayson," he slurred, his dizziness increasing.

"Oh, glad to see that you kept Mummy and Daddy's last name. I'm sure if they were still alive, they'd be glad to hear that. Now, would you like to come with me?"

Richard recognized the man, but he knew that he didn't have the strength to fight off the fat tub of lard that was Tony Zucco.

_I have to… get help… but how?_

He shook his head slowly, slowing his breath the best he could.

"Oh come on, it won't be that bad… I have candy in my car, would you like some?"

Richard shook his head hard. The hands tightened on his arms and he knew that he couldn't fight them off.

_Fighting… can't do that… have to resort… to… Plan B…_

"Oh hon, try again. We don't like that answer," Amanda snarled, behind her fake black rimmed glasses.

Richard took a deep breath.

_Someone has to… hear this… please…_

He threw back his head and pictured the worst images he could remember. He saw his parents hitting the circus floor. He remembered their graves. He remembered seeing Zucco throwing those knives at Batman who was strapped to the rotating wheel. He just pictured his parents smiling down at him. And with that, he managed to do something that he never thought he'd ever have to do in his life. With his head back and his eyes closed tight, Richard John Grayson screamed.

XxXxX

Wally sat up straight in his hospital bed. That scream he heard… he leapt to his feet and out of the bed, racing down the hall. He wasn't the only curious patient at the hospital. Several people's heads were poled out of their rooms, looking around. The red head raced down the white hallways until he found, to his surprise, Robin lying on the ground. The black haired boy's eyes were closed tight and his mouth was open in an ear splitting scream that didn't sound like it could come from a boy his size. He was clutching his stomach as the people around him tried with no success to quiet him. Wally charged forward and knocked the woman and the two men back away from his friend.

Then he scooped up Robin and back pedaled as fast as he could to get his best friend away from them. Richard's eyes opened and when he saw Wally, he closed them again and shut his mouth gently, taking a deep breath. His now weakened frame shook gently in his best friend's arms, but he knew that he was safe for now. Wally wouldn't hurt him. Wally would protect him from the nasty murderers.

"Call… Batman…" he begged softly.

The red head's green eyes were confused as ever, but he nodded.

"Yeah… where's your room?"

Richard was silent though, his lips set in a permanent neutral expression. Wally sighed.

"Batman is _so_ going to kill me for this," Wally thought aloud, racing down the hall back to his own room.

He placed his best friend on his own bed, pulling the sheets up over Robin's chest and leaving them there. He ran a hand weakly through Robin's black hair.

"Don't worry, I'll call Batman… but what do I tell him?"

He didn't really expect an answer when he picked up his own communicator. Before he dialed the number that contacted Batman, he got a soft reply from Robin.

"Say… 'Zucco's… back'…" Robin requested, one arm once again folded over his sore stomach.

_Probably just a Dynamic Duo thing… I won't ask_ Wally decided.

He called and pressed the communicator into his ear, taking a seat next to the bed Robin was resting in.

"Batman speaking."

"This is Kid Flash. A few seconds ago, Robin was… er, attacked and-," he began.

"Is he alright?" Batman cut him off.

"Still stubborn as ever, but he doesn't seem any more hurt then he was before," Wally assured him. "He wanted me to tell you that… 'Zucco's back'… _whatever that means_."

Wally heard Batman inhale sharply.

"Can I speak to him?"

Wally removed the communicator from his ear and gently shook Robin.

"Hey, Hey Rob… Batman wants to talk to you," Wally said, his voice gentle and soft.

Robin's eyes opened weakly and he frowned.

"Great," he whispered, taking the communicator from his best friend's hand.

He put it in his ear. He nodded and made mumbling 'Uh huh's and 'Nuh uh's, but he never said any definite words.

"L… love you… too," he mumbled, pulling the communicator from his ear.

His arm fell weakly to his side, his hand landing on the red head's. Wally nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Take… it," Robin ordered gently.

Wally nodded and grabbed the ear piece from his best friend's pale hand. Wally held it in his own hand for a while, watching Richard.

_You really are something else Rob… maybe it's just the medicine he's on… Hmm… _

He then pressed the button next to his bed that got the attention of nurses. He wanted to keep Robin healthy or he was sure he wouldn't hear the end of it. He just wished that he had called the team. He would have preferred to be back at Happy Harbor rather then Gotham's hospital, but it couldn't be helped yet. He'd just have to wait a while longer.

XxXxX

Batman set a hand to his aching head.

_Zucco's back and this is the second attempt he's made at Robin's life. I wouldn't have left. I shouldn't have left… _

He replayed the hospital's security tapes, going over the one time stamp he wanted. He saw Amanda and Thomas force Richard to his knees while Zucco stood in front of him, saying that he planned on kidnapping him basically. He then watched as Richard tossed back his head and screamed. That broke his heart. He had never once heard Richard scream. He had heard him cry out, whimper, groan, moan and sob, but never a scream. He frowned and stopped the tape, closing his eyes with a sigh.

_Why do you try so hard Dick? No one is asking you to pretend that life is amazing. No one is asking you not to be yourself… Why pretend to smile and hide behind a mask? Oh yes, because I ask you to. You're just obeying me… I wish I could tell you why I'm making you hide, but I doubt that you'd understand… _

He traced the deep cut down the center of his desk from a few years back. It cut deep into the beautifully carved wood, splintering along the edges.

_Now, time to figure out where this bastard is off to. Where do Italian murdering gang bosses go in their free time…?_

**A lot of you said that Dick wasn't Richard Wayne because he was a… 'ward'. The only ward I know of is a mental ward where the nutsos go to get some help. Does that mean that Bruce was kind of like his doctor? What does ward mean? Please note that just because I've read the dictionary out of boredom doesn't mean that I've retained half of the words in it!**

**~Welcome to my funeral~**

**-KSS (FrankandJoe3)**


	10. Chapter 10

**I suppose I have to update this, but I wanted to update my FrankandJoe3 story. By suggestive themes, I was not hinting at Wally/Rob. I'm only 12! I can't write that without getting my ass ninja roundhoused by the hounds from OG that read my stuff! I meant from my character, Frankie, who's almost nothing like me. I want to write it just because I have some really good violent deaths planned, so I'm just writing this to get you guys to go read about how the YJ team doesn't like us fangirls as much as we love them… so yeah, updating… Yay….**

The room was near silent, but Tony preferred it like that. Silence made it easier for him to plot, plan and other things like that. For now, his leg was wrapped in a homemade cast, propped up on his desk. It was still store from the batarang that it had received to its back nearly three days ago. The second attempt to get Richard was a failure too, but only because that stupid red head had interrupted again. Tony pulled a cigar from his special case. Noting how little he had left, he made a mental note to go out and get some more later. He put his lighter to the end and set it in his mouth, savoring the exquisite taste that most would cough at.

He pulled it away from his lips and exhaled a heavy stream of smoke, watching it go into the air above his head, circling like a halo before disappearing into the ceiling, joining the rest of the smoke from his previous Cuban cigars. He knew that Cuban cigars were illegal in the United States, so he was glad he was over in New England. **[1] **He set the cigar back in his lips and let his mind drift into his recent plans that began to formulate.

_It's obvious that the boy is a lot weaker alone. If that red head hadn't shown up either time, I would have little Richard here beside me… So the point is to find him and catch him by surprise. He's never alone though. At home, he locks himself in that gym of his and busies himself. I've never seen him go off without an escort or a hero at his side. And even if I do catch him alone, he'll have that damn belt of his and he could call for help. I have to manage to get him away from society and that belt… We could try a heavier drug dosage, but maybe have it delay four hours so he drops when he's out of school… _

_No, Batman gets him from school. I can't get him in the hospital because he can call for help there too… I'll have to get him when he goes back to school. That's my only option. It's a small window, but I can do it. I'll have to do something to the red head and Batman too though. I have to get that kid alone. He's always on alert though, and he'll be especially that after coming home from all of this. Batman will probably hire a security guard or something…_

Tony took another puff of his cigar, his eyes tracing the beautiful smoke that rose from his lips.

"How troublesome," he muttered, unconsciously rubbing his aching knee.

He then pressed the cigar back to his lips and picked up his cell phone. He had to hire a couple men to help him with this.

XxXxX

The famous Batman crept silently through the halls of the hospital, all of the lights off and overnight patients snoring loudly and breathing softly, differing from one patient to the next. He wasn't listening for snores though. He was looking for a certain patient. Lucky for him, no doctors passed by to see him. If they had, they would've been ninja kicked and they wouldn't remember ever seeing him down the halls. Finally, Batman saw a room that he liked the number of. He poked his head in the door and wasn't necessarily pleased with what he saw, but it was fine for him at the moment. He let the door close silently behind him as he crept through the darkness, as quiet as a shadow.

He walked over to Richard's bed. Richard was slumbering silently, clutching a pillow tight to his chest; his black locks the only part of him viewable over the white of the pillow. Richard's breath was silent in his throat, but his chest rose and fell softly behind the shielding of the pillow and the protection of the white pillow. Batman walked closer to the boy and stared down at him for a moment before glancing about the room. Kid Flash, in his civvies, was resting in a hospital bed. From what Richard had explained from over the phone, he was here because of the needle he had received to his stomach. It had some unknown toxin that wasn't known, even its chemicals a mystery to the doctors.

The red head was lying in his own bed across the room, sprawled across it like a dog waiting for its belly to be rubbed. His mouth was open in a mind numbing snore that would definitely block out any sound that Batman would make, if he did. Batman rolled his eyes in annoyance and looked down at his own little boy. He slowly tugged the pillow from Richard's face, only to see a soft smile painted on the boy's lips, his space sparkling from silent and nearly unnoticeable tear tracks. He still clutched tight at the pillow, as if it was a lover, or a stuffed animal needed to survive the dark and heartless nights. Batman ran a hand through Richard's black bangs, better revealing his eyes.

In reaction to the touch, Richard flinched and squirmed back, his eyes screwed up tight. **[ ****2 ] **

Batman pulled away, discouraged by the reaction. He had never known Dick to be a touchy-feely boy, which was sometimes good. Dick had always seemed to be afraid from being given affection, the reason unknown by his mentor and ward. He had always beamed brilliantly at a pat on the shoulder or a tousle of the hair, or even a 'Congrats', but being shown real affection was something he always seemed to push away. Well, at least around him. Batman stepped closer and wrenched the pillow from Richard's grip, despite the boy's soft whimper of discomfort that escaped his slumbering lips.

"Time to go home," Batman whispered, his voice echoing inside of Richard's head, interrupting his heart shattering, mind numbing nightmare.

It only added a darker twist, causing Richard to inhale sharply, biting onto his bottom lip. Batman noticed and frowned. He scooped up Richard, bridal style, and hugged him softly to his dark gray and black costume. Richard's eyebrows rose behind the dark veil of sleep, but not from the hug and Batman could tell that. In reaction to the hug, Richard seemed to be uncomfortable, but in real life, he probably would've smiled wider then he was. The once soft smile had faded to only a ghost, but it hovered there, unbeknownst to his mentor.

With a final glance about the room, Batman darted from the room, Richard asleep in his arms. Escaping the hospital, he hopped into the Bat Mobile, carefully concealed in the darkness due to its black shading. He laid Richard down in along the back seat, which was ever so carefully angled so that the boy wouldn't roll onto the floor due to its upward angle. He rarely used it, but he was glad for its installation after several bad nights spent at the bar and several injuries and hangovers suffered. For now, he was thankful because it held what was left of his small world, or at least a fraction of it. He buckled his seatbelt and proceeded to tear down the highway in silence.

_No hospital is good enough to harbor a hero. Tomorrow, I'll tell the Flash to go get his nephew. For now, I have to tend to Richard… so careless in letting himself get hurt, but that'll be over after we stop Tony again, but this time for good. This time, when I get the chance, I won't hesitate to pull the trigger._

XxXxX

Wally peeked one green eye open and glanced across the room, just to confirm his suspicions. Robin's bed was empty, the only evidence of previous life being the rumpled sheets and the pillow.

"Little lucky bastard," Wally smiled gently.

He sat up in his bed and climbed down carefully. He strode across the room and pushed open the door.

_Final destination: Mount Justice. See ya suckers! _

He sped off in a tan, red and bluish blur, abandoning the empty room. He assumed that Robin would be with Batman and they were probably over at Mount Justice, mostly because of its excellent infirmary that served great as a hospital for heroes of some sort. If they could care for a super powerless sidekick there, they could definitely deal with him.

XxXxX

Richard's eyes swelled open and he sat straight up, looking around the room hopefully. His heart sunk when he saw that he was just in the infirmary. He sighed gently and finally felt the pain in his midsection. He didn't let it show though. He just frowned and rubbed at it as he lay back down.

"Hello there Robin," Red Tornado's voice sounded. "Would you like me to go tell Batman that you're awake?"

Robin hesitated. "Not yet. Give me another five minutes."

Red Tornado bowed his head gently. "As you wish."

He went off to tell Batman anyway, but he slowed his pace so that Robin might have another five minutes of thoughts and silence all to himself. He had that much of a heart, no matter inhuman it was. Robin felt at his eyes, relieved to feel a mask resting over his blue eyes. He wasn't relieved to be there though. His dream had been a comfort to him, a warm assuring hug and meaningless words whispered into his subconscious that caused gentle shivers down his back.

_Just a dream… why did I have to wake up?_

Robin blinked slowly, pulling off his gloves in irritance. He longed for white bandages and dark green spandex. He longed to have brown hair and he longed to be little Richard Grayson, son to Mary and John. That was just a dream. That's all it ever was and it's what it would always be to him. Just a stupid dream that he'd never wake from. How troublesome.

**I updated for you. Now go check out my FrankandJoe3 story, whatever I called it. It has FrankandJoe3 in the title. Please? I worked really hard on that and I don't intend to make it slash, just best friendship… I like writing stuff where the characters **_**know**_** that they're on a show. I find that amusing. It's like a reality TV program, only more violent, with me starring in it as the creepy bipolar chick who explodes several times out of awesomeness. **

**[1] In WELCOME TO HAPPY HARBOR, Kaldur asked Robin if tornadoes were common in New England. Look it up if you don't believe me (:**

**[2] I read this expression from Harry Potter, so if you don't like it, blame J.K Rowling, not FrankandJoe3. **

**And check out ~Misery Business~ by Paramore. It's a beautiful song. And I suggest you check my FrankandJoe3 story, or you'll see a black haired, blue eyed beauty in your bed room with a paintball machine gun, each ball of paint laced with cyanide. (: **

**-Frankie **


	11. Chapter 11

**So, Amara, sorry that this is late, but it was harder to type than I thought! So sorry it isn't in the usual F.J. vibes.**

_**The word fuck is used in this chapter, but do note that I rated this story for TEENS. Teens hear that word a lot, and if you can't handle it, then go back down to K+ stories. You handle all the other words, so handle this one.**_

**(The Much Needed) Next Chapter:**

Bruce wasn't sure why he didn't want to take Richard home to the comfort of a room that he could lay in without having to hide his face, but he just didn't. He felt much better after he tucked Richard into his spare room at Mount Justice and retiring to his own spare room. As he got into his own bed that was shrouded by the darkness, he thought harder on it.

_Why aren't I taking Richard home? He'd be safer there, wouldn't he?_

It was then it sort of clicked. Richard wasn't safe there. An attempt had been made on his life and Zucco, Amanda and Thom had all managed to track him there. As far as he knew, Bruce was positive that the three didn't know about Richard's sidekick life spent in the comfort of the spare room for the past year. One attempt on Richard's life had been enough, so it was only natural for Bruce to be slightly paranoid on the matter.

_Stop your worrying Wayne, Richard's okay… for now…_

He couldn't convince himself that though, because when he tried, he kept hearing Richard's weak and broken voice say, "I promise you, I'm fine for now." Bruce closed his eyes as tight as he could, but he couldn't shake the voice. He swallowed hard and kept his eyes closed. He knew he'd get to sleep sometime tonight, but not for a long while.

XxXxX

Wally officially woke up to someone shake him. He groaned and his eyes fluttered in the pitch blackness.

"Rob, you better be dying or I'm going to kill you for waking me up," Wally threatened, closing his eyes again and not sitting up.

He knew it was Robin because no one else on the team was stupid enough to wake him up in the dead of the night. Even if a tornado was striking or the place was on fire, they'd just pick him up and haul some ass out of the building, but they wouldn't bother to wake him. His eyes flew open when he heard the sob though. He sat up straight and flipped his life on, wincing at the sudden light, but he adjusted fast. His eyes swelled when he looked at Robin.

Well, for starters, he didn't even see Robin. He saw Dick Grayson, the jerk in eighth grade from school. Second, the kid was sobbing pretty hard, but he was making an effort to muffle it. Third, his shoulder was at an angle and was adjusted in a way that just had to hurt something awful. As Wally studied Dick though, he instantly saw Robin behind the tears.

"Rob, what's wrong?" he asked quickly, standing up to comfort the boy, completely forgetting his choice of sleepwear.

Although the sight of Wally in nothing but short boxers with blue and red checkers made Robin blush heavily, the pain in his shoulder was too bad to let him forget about it and focus on his friend.

"It hurts," he whimpered, screwing up his eyes tight.

Wally set a hand on his friend's good looking shoulder and ducked down to his eye level.

"Your shoulder, right?"

Robin nodded, his shoulder beginning to shake from the sobs he was swallowing.

"C-Can you p-pop it b-back into s-s-socket?" he begged, his voice quivering dangerously.

Wally lowered his hand.

"If I did, you'd scream though, and I don't want to wake anyone," Wally muttered.

"Please," Robin pleaded, meeting the red head's eyes.

Wally was shocked by the fear in the boy's eyes. He had never seen Robin that afraid, ever. His face became determined.

"Yeah, but… uh…"

He closed his eyes tight thinking. Then he remembered.

"Alright, I got a way, but it's gonna hurt like Hell," he suggested.

"Anything!" Robin cried in a soft voice.

Wally nodded. "Lay down," he gestured to the bed.

Robin looked hesitant, but a glare from Wally sent him lying down swiftly.

"H-How does this help?" he asked weakly.

Wally weakly tousled Robin's hair.

"Rob, for this to work, you have to stop crying," Wally ordered with a warm and gentle voice.

Robin closed his eyes tight and looked as if he was trying, but it wasn't working.

"I-I can't," he sobbed, "it hurts!"

Wally ran a hand through his head.

"Damnit… I know you've dislocated your shoulder before, but… Alright, here," he held out his left hand, kneeling on Robin's left side.

Through tear stained eyes, the boy stared at the hand in confusion.

"Hold it; use it as a stress ball. If you want me to fix your shoulder, you need to calm down," he explained.

Robin's face burned furiously and Wally took a silent victory in it, knowing this was something he could hold over the boy later, but this wasn't a joking matter.

"Dude, grow a pair. This is serious! Do you want the pain to stop?" Wally yelled at him, only in a loud whisper.

Robin took a shuddery nod, his tears coming faster.

"Then hold my hand! This isn't time to deal with your sexuality issues. I'm your best friend, you're in pain. You're my first priority, so hold my hand," he said more roughly this time.

Robin shook his head vigorously, his blush growing heavier. Wally turned his head down, clutching his other hand into a tight fist. He took a deep breath and faced Robin.

"If you want me to help you, _hold my fucking hand_!" Wally growled angrily.

Robin tensed up at the language and the venom on his friend's tongue, but quickly grabbed the redhead's hand to stop him from cussing again. He didn't like it as much as _you_ don't, loyal readers. Wally was surprised by how hard Robin's grip was, but he didn't blame the boy. His shoulder really looked like it hurt.

"Okay dude, ignore the fact that you totally love holding my hand and take some deep breaths. You need to relax your muscles so I can work my magic," Wally said in a lighter tone, saying magic as if it was a seductive word with a secret meaning.

"If I wasn't in pain with this arm, I would pimp slap you," Robin muttered beneath his breath.

"So, would that make you my little ho?" Wally joked, grinning ear to ear.

Truth was, he loved this moment. Well, not having to fix Robin's shoulder because he hated stuff like that, but he loved having an excuse to hold the ebony haired boy's hand.

"Just you wait 'til morning carrot top," Robin threatened, his grip tightening even more.

Wally sat there kneeling beside his buddy until Robin's breathing was slow and rhythmic again.

"Alright Rob, I won't lie to you, this is gonna hurt, so I'll go slow. Just tell me when it starts to hurt," he said, grabbing Robin's other hand, releasing the original one.

Robin nodded to show that he understood and he screwed his eyes up tight. Slowly, Wally began to pull Robin's arm up by his head so that when it rested, it would look like he was posing. Wally hadn't brought Robin's arm a foot in the air when the boy winced.

"Hurts… and by the way, for what you said earlier, that is _so _what he said," Robin smiled weakly, clinging to Wally's hand in a death grip.

Wally chuckled softly, but he slowed down and began to lower Robin's arm so it gently touched the bed. Robin looked as if he was masking a nuclear war within him, but he bit hard on his lip and kept his hand tight to Wally's. A slight tear of pain slipped from his eyes, but he swallowed it until his hand was safely placed beside his head.

"Almost done?" he pleaded, pain racking his body.

Wally nodded and noticed that Robin softened his grip slightly. He raised an eyebrow. Then he remembered what was left and he reluctantly released Robin's hand. He felt his own ears redden as he saw the surprise in Robin's eyes as he glanced at the redhead's now free hand.

"Just two things left. For now, I need you to do something that's going to sound really stupid. I need you to move your hand up and down, as if you're scratching your neck, until your hand is behind your head. I can't get it under your neck like I need to."

Wally demonstrated with his own hand, gently supporting Robin's arm to help for what he could. Robin furrowed his eyebrows and started, but from the look in his face, it was really hard. Wally, with a secret smile, crept around to the other side of the bed and offered Robin his hand on that side. Robin eagerly accepted and Wally's smile widened triumphantly. Robin pretended not to notice and continued to snake his arm along until his hand were underneath his neck. His scared blue eyes met Wally's confident emerald ones and he felt much better.

"Now what?" he asked.

Wally reached onto his dresser and set his cell phone against the shoulder farthest from Robin's hands.

"Reach for this," he ordered.

Robin raised an eyebrow, but he obeyed, holding tight to Wally's hand and closing his eyes tight as the pain grew. Suddenly though, a pop rang through the room and Robin smiled widely and sat up, holding Wally's cell phone in his left hand. He released Wally's other hand and hugged the red head tightly.

"Thank you," he whispered, his shoulder feeling extremely better.

Wally's ears darkened and Robin took his own silent victory in it, but his thanks were sincere. Wally nodded softly, wrapping an arm around the boy.

"No problem Rob," he smiled.

They released each other and just sat there for a moment.

"So, you crashing here tonight or what?" Wally asked, breaking the silence.

Robin shrugged. "Do you want me too?"

Wally shrugged in return. Robin smiled.

"Yeah; Batman's out there and he almost heard me as I came here, and I don't want him to question why I'm sneaking ominously from your room at night. I'd rather him find me here tomorrow morning, where I can promise that I was in your room to stay safe…"

Wally nodded, "Good choice."

He pulled back the covers of his bed and turned on his side so he was facing the lamp. He felt Robin lay down beside him, but he wasn't sure if it was Robin's back he was feeling or Robin's front. Either way, he just felt cloth. Wally didn't bother to check as he reached out and switched off the lamp, drowning the room in darkness. They laid there for the longest time in the darkness until Wally was positive it was breath he was feeling on his neck.

"Hey Rob, you awake?" he whispered.

"Yup," Robin muttered sleepily.

Wally smiled shyly.

"So, is your name Dick Grayson?"

Robin hesitated.

"I… why?"

"You look like him, and sound like him, same height and build and…"

"Guilty," Robin felt good admitting it. "That's me; I was bound to tell you anyway, so thanks for saving me the trouble."

Wally grinned widely.

"Awesome," he muttered.

Just as Wally was about to drift off, he felt an arm wrap around his stomach and a forehead press to his upper back. He tensed up for a moment, but relaxed seconds later.

"I'm going to kill you tomorrow for cussing at me," Robin reminded him.

Wally didn't take fear though.

"No worries; if you do, I'll tell the others you're gay."

It was Robin's turn to tense up and he scooted back in the bed.

"Am not!" he cried.

"Dude, you held my hand, hugged me and were using me as a human teddy bear. You're gay."

Wally laughed as he felt Robin's eyes burn into his neck.

"You're my big brother dude, I have the right to do all that," he argued.

Wally shrugged. "Not my problem. As long as I'm alive tomorrow, I'll keep my over-exaggerating mouth to myself," he promised.

He heard Robin groan stubbornly.

"Fine," he heard the Boy Wonder_ful_ mutter beneath his breath.

He didn't close his eyes again until he felt the arm wrap around him again.

"Sorry, I'm scared. If I'm dead before morning, tell Batman that I said good bye."

"You won't die," Wally promised, and he felt Robin smile.

_I won't let them touch you_ Wally thought to himself, before he drifted off.

The last things he became aware of were the warm arm around his stomach and the hot breath on his back.

**AHAHAHA! SLASH! *giggle* Sorry, we're all fangirls at heart, and I warned you in… chapter… er, that author's note thingy merbobber. So, if you're going to complain about the brief language, refer to the **_**note**_** above in the… er, before word? And those that like slash, you're welcome. And how Wally popped Robin's shoulder back into socket, that's a real way. I looked it up. True, Robin could've done it on his own, but where's the fun in that? Besides, it'll make sense next chapter. **

**-F.J. **


	12. Chapter 12

**My apologies for the slash in the last chapter, but I was just testing to see if I could actually write it for another story I've been working on. I get the idea though, no more KF and Rob. Point taken. *holds hands up in defeat* Don't tell me that you guys don't do stupid stuff in stories that others don't like though. No one is perfect, and if anyone is then they aren't human. Sorry guys, but everyone has some flaws, even Barbie. **

**Disclaimer: Uh… yeah, I don't usually write these, but if YJ was mine, do you honestly think I'd be typing this? No, no I wouldn't be. **

Richard opened his eyes weakly and was automatically confused. He was in his room at the Wayne Manor, or so said the Circus poster to the left of him and the neatness of the room. He sat up, an eyebrow raised.

_How did I get here? Wasn't I with Wally at Mount Justice? _

He rubbed at his eyes and slowly got up from the bed, shivering at the cold of the floor to his bare feet. He froze again.

_I fell asleep wearing socks… _he glanced down at his feet and saw that they were indeed bare.

He rubbed at his neck and shook his head.

"I'll just ask Alfred…" he decided to himself.

It wasn't until after he reached the door that Richard noticed something was off. He could feel it in the base of his stomach, although he wasn't sure what was off. First he scanned the room, looking for something to be off. His covers were still a shade of evergreen and his pillows were still white. His floors were still wooden and his walls were still a cream color. His dressers were in the right place and they were the right shades. His sunglasses were on the dresser next to his bed where he always left them. His closet door was closed and his windows were still the same two way split with the white colors.

_I don't get it. Nothing is wrong… why does it feel like it though?_

Richard glanced towards the mirror for an answer and felt his heart stop in his chest. He wasn't staring at the maskless Robin that he usually saw. In the mirror staring him back was a confused looking nine year old wearing green spandex with a yellow cursive G on the front. In horror, Richard looked down at his hands, as if expecting to see claws. What he saw was much worse. He saw the familiar white bandages that used to bind his arms. Richard's breath caught in his throat and he quickly punched the mirror, unable to accept what he saw.

_This is ridiculous! I must be- I'm asleep! That's it! I just have to wake up!_

That was easier thought than done though, because no matter how hard Richard pinched his arm, he didn't wake up in the slightest. He frowned and stood there.

"Well, this is stupid. I guess I should just follow this dream to the end… Maybe I'm starring in Inception and I just wasn't told…"

Richard looked up, waiting to hear a 'Damn, he's onto us!' but he never heard it. With a shrug, he went over to his closet and opened it to change out of the troublesome spandex. He took back every time he had longed to wear the outfit and immediately grew thankful for basketball shorts and baggy blue shirts which he ended up changing into. But when he tried to take off the bandages, he found that he couldn't, much to his anger. They seemed to be a part of his skin. He just tried to ignore it and opened his door to leave. Instead of stepping out of his room to the cold hallway floors he was used to, Richard found that the floor dropped beneath his feet.

He let out a cry of surprise as harsh winds tore at his skin and he spiraled downwards. Before Richard could comprehend what was happening, he fell into what had to be the softest bean bag he had ever felt. He blinked in surprise and looked around. It looked like he was in a childish Doctor's waiting room. He got up from the chair and looked down at his clothes, only to see that he was dressed like a doctor with the white coat and the gloves and the cute little name tag. With a sigh, Richard tossed off the jacket and chucked the gloves halfway across the room to go back to his baggy clothes.

"A hospital huh? How boring," he muttered to himself.

He walked down towards the nearest clearly marked exit, a frown on his face. The second he opened it though, he was met with a swarm of two foot gummibears, red and blue, with piranha-like fangs. He pulled the door closed as fast as he could, his eyes wide.

"Damnit, why can't I go ONE dream without stupid gummibears?" he complained.

With an angry sigh, Richard ventured deeper into the hospital. He kept his eyes forward and tried to ignore the snarling and demented faces glaring at him through the doors on either side of him. He kept walking until he reached a dead end.

"Well… what do I do now?" he thought aloud.

He looked around, but the hall hadn't changed in the slightest. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Gummibears are an option…" he shook his head swiftly. The boy honored his life. "Alright, no gummibears, and I really don't want to have to deal with the patients of this freak show…"

He jumped back as one of the patients snarled at him loudly from a nearby door.

"Hey, look at yourself in the mirror buddy! You aren't too good looking at the moment," Richard stood up for himself.

That only angered the creature, which caused it to break down the door and approach Richard slowly. The blue eyed boy's eyes tripled in size at the sight of what looked like a Spitter from Left for Dead 2. He swallowed an urge to puke and looked down at his waistband hopefully. Just like he had prayed, there was a weapon there. It wasn't the usual AK47 he preferred to use just because of the speed, but it was a machete, and out of all of the melee weapons, the machete was his best. He grabbed it tightly and braced himself.

The Spitter let out a cry and spit a long trail of green electrified acid Richard's way. He grew thankful of his years in the circus as he charged forward at the wall and ran two feet up it before pushing himself off and flipping over the acid path. Landing roughly, he charged forward and decapitated the female Spitter, trying not to gag at the sight of her clothing choice. He grinned down at the machete and charged forwards to open the other doors, only to see that he wasn't in the hospital anymore. He sighed again and surveyed the area around him.

His heart caught in his throat though as he saw what it was. The spot light, the red and white circus tent, the about to be occupied trapeze in front of him… This was the worst night of Richard's life.

"Screw this, I'm not dreaming about this," he told himself.

With a deep breath, he threw himself off the edge, looking up at his parents faces. His mother's lips were parted in a scream, but he didn't hear her scream. No, it was a male scream, and a familiar one at that. Richard focused on it as he felt his lips part in a cry of pain as he smashed into the dream's ground. The scream he was hearing wasn't in his dream though, it was a real one, in real life.

Richard sat up quickly, his eyes wide. His head swiveled around. He wasn't in Wally's room, but he knew this was real. He was in the living room, and alone at that. The screaming continued on. As Richard got up, pain shot up his arm. With a glance at it, he noticed how awkwardly bent it was. Biting hard on his lip, he grabbed that wrist and brought the arm up and towards the other shoulder until the painful pop sounded. Shaking his head hard and licking the blood from his lips, Richard bolted towards the screaming. He wasn't all too surprised to find it was coming from Wally's room. But as he pushed open the door, he was disappointed to find that he wasn't the first to arrive.

Megan had her eyes closed and her eyebrows furrowed, her fingertips to his head. She was trying to stop the screaming, but it wasn't working. The others stood back awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Richard did though. He pulled out his utility belt and unfolded it until he found a thumb sized bottle of what looked like colorful sample perfume. He walked up to Wally and sprayed the boy in the face with it. Wally stopped screaming and gave out a staggered breath before he collapsed and went peaceful. Emotionless, Richard tucked the spray back in his utility belt and folded it up before stashing it away.

Until it was concealed, Richard hadn't taken in how awkward the silence was. He looked up with an eyebrow raised, surveying the crowd. Superboy had his normal 'I-Don't-Give-A-Shit' look on; Kaldur was silent and was looking at Richard with his head cocked to the side and his eyebrows furrowed as if in deep thought; Artemis's eyes were wider than normal and her lips were slightly parted in surprise; Megan had turned her attention from Wally to him and seem just as surprised.

"Um, did I do something wrong?" Richard asked nervously.

They all exchanged glances but no one said anything. Following a suspicion, Richard touched his hand to his eyes, but he felt the familiar touch of his little black mask he wore at night. Then he looked down at himself. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, although he was missing his arm sling and he still felt the familiar invisible tug of the bandages that bound his torso tightly. When he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, he looked up at them again.

"Why are you all looking at me weird?" he asked.

They all averted their gaze back to Wally. Richard glanced in the mirror quickly to see if he missed anything. His face was pale as usual, the blood on his lips was only internal and his hair was still the same color it had been for a while. Then something occurred to him.

"Oh, is it because of how I shut Wally up? Batman made it a couple months ago after a battle with the Joker. I call it the 'Insta-Mute', 'cuz it shuts up even the most troublesome sounds," Richard explained, grinning slightly.

They still didn't reply, and Megan turned back to searching Wally's mind. Richard felt as if he was going mad.

"What's wrong with you guys?" he cried angrily.

He didn't wait for an answer though as he felt an ominous shadow settle over him. A hand settled on his shoulder gently and he sighed.

"Dangit," he muttered.

He turned around and looked up at a solemn Batman. The two exchanged a brief conversation with their eyes and Batman nodded, walking over to Wally.

"Robin, call his parents and inform the Flash," Batman ordered.

Richard stiffened.

"Who says I have his parent's number?" he cried defensively.

Batman's eyes narrowed and Richard sighed in defeat. He pulled out his utility belt and unfolded it until he found his cell and hit one of the speed dials, pressing the phone to his ear. Batman picked up the red head, glancing over the team and hesitating.

"Off to bed, training session early tomorrow," Batman informed them.

They shrugged and headed off to their rooms at the command. Batman headed for the door.

"Yes, Mr. and Mrs. West? Yes, it's me… Yeah, he's why I'm calling. Well, Wally…" Richard's voice trailed off in Batman's ears as he hurried to the infirmary.

_Screaming… Richard mentioned the needle that he was stabbed with… He won't die at least, but we might as well check it out. If this is what I think, then Zucco has made some new friends ever since we locked him away. I shouldn't tell Richard though. It'll only make him madder if he thinks that Zucco might have a chance at taking us on. He wouldn't win of course, but it's not fun to think that he's stronger now…_ Batman thought to himself, frowning slightly.

His mind changed quickly.

_He doesn't have to be friends with the Scarecrow to have the technology though, just like Richard's 'Insta-Mute' as he nicknamed it… Either way though, Zucco does have Amanda and Thom and they were strong enough to disarm Richard… That means Richard isn't safe anymore… But I won't intrude and give him a body guard, no matter how much that would help him. People might get suspicious and Richard hates the attention. I should discuss this with Richard… or just strengthen his costume. I wonder if they make any fabric that is knife proof? I'll ask Alfred, that's right down his alley…_

XxXxX

"He's okay though, right?" the Flash asked quickly, concern in his voice.

Richard wanted to tell the man the truth, but he couldn't muster it.

"As far as I know; Batman wanted me to call you and tell you. That's probably League talk for you to get down here or something," Richard said innocently.

He could practically hear the Flash nod.

"Be there in a sec," he promised and the phone was shut.

Richard knew that was probably true so he lay down on Wally's bed and looked up at the ceiling, waiting for Batman. When he heard his communicator go off, he smiled. It had to be Batman. He opened it.

"Hey, about time you-…"

Richard's lips parted in surprise as he saw the face on the other line.

"Hey yourself honey," the woman's country drawl teased.

As quick as he could, Richard chucked the phone as far away from him as he could manage with the best strength he could muster. He heard the phone shatter against Wally's wall, but he didn't feel any better. Now they knew where he was. He definitely wasn't safe. Richard leapt from the bed and bolted from the room towards his mentor. Batman would know what to do.

**Crappy ending, sorry. I tried to make up for the last crappy chapter. By the way, if you're wondering how Robin got from Wally's room to the living room, it's because he never was there. He dreamt that Wally helped him because his shoulder was popped from socket when he was sleeping. And if you're wondering how he double dreamt, stop wondering. People double dream a lot. I've dreamt things more realistic than both dreams. And if you're questioning me and my gummibears obsession, it's a reference to another story of mine, and a reference to my dream of getting a five foot blue gummibear. **

**-F.J. **


	13. Chapter 13

**Okay, it seems I've some what gained your trust… that's wonderful. I love gummibears. I'm serious. If there was any apocalypse, I would want it to be a gummibear apocalypse. Do you know how cool that would be? Well, it'd be the end of the world, but at least it'd be with gummibears. And I know I spell gummibear weird, but I like spelling it with an i. It makes me feel original. So yeah, enjoy the chapter if I end up posting it. **

**Disclaimer: YJ isn't mine, but I do claim the gummibear dreams if you hear from them again. I love gummibears. **

Tony chuckled to himself, leaning further back in his chair. He folded one foot over the other and brought the cigar to his lips, inhaling a lung full of smoke and slowly exhaling it into little smoke rings.

"And let the paranoia sink in," he said to himself, smirking slightly. "They'll come running right to us…"

XxXxX

Robin's eyes kept nervously darting towards the door, but his mask hid his eyes. The Flash, for once in his life, was dead silent as he stood beside his nephew who was as cold as a stone. There was little to no sound in the room besides Wally's faint breathing.

"Is he okay?" Barry finally asked, clearing his throat nervously.

Bruce nodded firmly.

"Robin told me Wally had been stabbed with a needle while the boy had tried to protect him, and the symptoms match up to what I suspected. Robin himself has been a victim to the attack several times before. I can assure you that Wally will be fine," Bruce assured his friend, patting him comfortingly on the back.

Barry nodded hard.

"So, am I safe to take him back to his place?" he asked, sorrow still locked in his features.

Bruce nodded slowly and Barry picked up Wally's body slowly. Looking over the red head's vacant face, Barry's eyebrows furrowed.

"Are you sure he's okay?" he asked Bruce.

Bruce nodded, "I'm sure of it."

Barry sighed heavily.

"Alright… I uh… I'll see you," he dismissed himself, slowly heading towards the door.

"Tell KF I'm sorry when he wakes up," Robin said softly.

Barry nodded.

"Good night," he muttered before speeding off into the darkness.

Robin then soon glanced up at Batman. The Caped Crusader set a hand to his neck.

"Robin…" he said slowly.

Robin's shoulders slumped and he frowned, setting a hand to his forehead. Bruce walked to him, but didn't hug him like he knew he should've. He looked down towards Robin and waited for the Boy Wonder_ful_ to speak his mind.

"They know where I am Bruce," Robin said no louder than a breath, yet Batman heard.

He made no comment though, and gestured with his eyes for Robin to continue.

"When they attacked me, they knew I was Robin… and they just called… and they must've called you because I never told you that Wally was stabbed with a needle when he was protecting me," Robin glared accusingly up at his mentor.

Batman averted his eyes.

"Yes, they called," he admitted.

The two stood in silence yet again.

"Batman… they know where I am… I'm not safe anywhere. Can we just go and kill them before they kill me?" Robin pleaded.

Batman shook his head.

"_We_ can't," he said firmly.

Robin sensed a trick behind it though, and quickly understood.

"You aren't letting me go," he noted, frowning heavily.

Batman shook his head. "No; they _want_ you to go to them, and I refuse to let you get killed."

Robin stepped back slowly, as if Batman had just about hit him.

"Batman… he… that stupid…" his voice dropped to a breath, "Tony killed my parents… I want to be the one that kills him."

Batman shook his head firmly.

"Robin, I told you no and that's final. Besides, you aren't fully healed from the last attack. I'm going to improve your costume, but you're out of simulations for a few months, so fighting Zucco and the others is out of the question."

Robin scowled, anger surging through his body.

"Robin, if I see that you even tried, _I will take you off of the team, _no questions asked_. _Do you understand me?" Batman threatened.

Robin winced again.

"Batman!" he cried angrily, desperation peeking through his voice.

Robin was met with a furious glare though that nearly shut him up.

"Batman, please! I've waited almost _five_ years for this day! I understand that you didn't get your parents' killer, but please, _I'm not you_. I'm Robin, the Boy Wonder! I want to kill him! I want to be the one who stops his heart; I want to be there when his eyes glaze to black. I want to be there when his skin grows cold; I want to see the moment when his breath just stops. I want _revenge_. Can't I have that? Please," he begged.

Batman grabbed Robin's shoulder roughly.

"Stop; we can't talk about this here."

Robin wrenched free of the grasp.

"No! I want you to promise me that I can kill him. Look, I'm moving just fine!"

"That's only because of the pain killers you're on. When they wear off, you're going to be feeling the worse imaginable pain. I'm taking you home now," Batman insisted, grabbing Robin roughly by the wrist.

Robin kept fighting though. As he did, Batman's grip tightened until Robin found no other option than to cry out in pain. Batman didn't let go, although he did loosen his grip.

"I don't have a home," Robin growled, his eyes brimming with pained tears. "I only have a prison. So, Mr. Warden, are you really taking me home to an empty trailer in an abandoned circus lot or are you taking me to the cold and vast cell that I've been confined to ever since my parents were taken from me?"

Bruce froze, his lips parting in surprise.

_He feels like my home is a prison? All I've done for him… that insensitive brat_.

Bruce's eyes narrowed and he threw Robin to the ground.

"You find it a prison? Fine then, stay here. Perfectly fine with me."

And with that, Bruce stormed from the room. Robin sat there on the floor, his eyes wide and his own lips parted and a slight wince running through his body as the pain in his chest sparked through the pain killer's effects. Tears swelled heavily in his eyes and he held his now bruised wrist to his chest in horror. He closed his eyes and sat there for a moment until he felt tears fall. With a shaky breath, he stood to his feet and stumbled down the hall to find his spare room, his heart broken. He regretted not holding his tongue. He shouldn't have said it. He'd try something in the morning, but he knew that Bruce held grudges and some pretty nasty ones at that.

Robin slowly climbed into his spare bed and laid there on top of the quilt. He didn't cover up though. He just lay there, thinking hard. Slowly, he slid off his shirt to look at the damage. The bandage was definitely more blood stained than before. He sighed.

_Zucco, I hope you come here. Maybe I could kill you in my last dying breath. Yes, that would be a victory within itself…_

He slowly slid his shirt back on and got beneath the quilt, snuggling up tight. He removed his mask and blinked at the awkwardness of the tears. Sure, he was sorry, but the truth made his chest feel lighter. Or maybe that was just the hole he had just cut into his heart…

XxXxX

Bruce gripped the steering wheel to his car, his vision blurred. This was stupid. He had dealt with so many people before. Why was this _one_ getting under his skin? Why did he care if Robin thought living him was like living in a prison? Why did he even care about Robin? Simple; Robin was his whole world, yet he wouldn't admit that to anyone. He knew he should run back inside and go get Robin back, but he was too stubborn. He'd wait until morning because he knew that the security of Mount Justice would protect him until Bruce's anger faded.

Bruce blinked heavily, but the bleariness wouldn't fade away as he continued to drive. He reached up to wipe away the tears, when he discovered there weren't any. He raised an eyebrow. Then he noticed it in the mirror. He saw a face he hadn't wanted to ever see for a while.

"Hello Mr. Wayne, pleasure doing business with ya," Thom grinned sadistically.

Bruce made an effort to stop the car, but he found his muscles give out on him. Right before his consciousness was lost, he saw the headlights of several oncoming cars speed towards him.

**Bruce was gassed. And from the sound of it, he's gonna be in a car crash. Poor Robin. Looks like we're getting closer to the part where I had originally started. Just have to have Robby fight with KF. Such fun!**

**Hey, check out my Left 4 Dead: YJ Style story if you like zombies! I really like writing it and I want to finish it… so please check it out… Yup, I'm a beggar. Sorry, comes in the job description. **

**-F.J.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Three days grace… ah… one-shot inspirers… **

The park was deserted now, the shadows taking it over. Wally ran as fast as he could, but he knew he would never be fast enough. He traveled faster than sound, but a bullet traveled four times faster. He wasn't even close to the boy as the bullet tore through his torso. The boy didn't even cry out. He just emitted a soft gasp before he collapsed towards the pavement. Wally managed to catch the boy in his arms before he hit the ground, but it was too late.

"No, Robin, please no!" he sobbed, fear running through his emerald eyes.

Robin offered him a weak smile and reached up towards him, but he couldn't hold on any longer. His arm suddenly dropped back to his side and the life in his now exposed crystal eyes slowly faded.

"No! No! Oh God! No!" he cried, setting Robin down on the ground.

He didn't take the time to cuss out the bastard that had just shot down his best friend. No, he still had hope that he could save Robin. It was an insanity driven hope, but it was hope. He put his right hand over his left and set his combined hands on Robin's stomach and pressed down methodically, counting as he did so. The life never returned to Robin's eyes.

"No…" Wally whispered, setting a brief hand to his head.

His breath grew ragged and tears threatened to fall. He fell victim to the threats and his tears fell like rain onto his best friend.

"No!" he screamed at himself.

He grabbed Robin's wrist and begged, prayed, pleaded even, for a slight pulse. To his horror, Robin was ice cold to the touch, and not a beat did his heart emit. Inside his head was a dark storm cloud and the rain kept building up, eventually beginning to pour from his eyes in heavy and warm streaks, staining his innocent skin with its red scars. He let the wrist fall to Robin's side and he lay there a moment, victim to the raining within the confines of his skull. For a long while it seemed as if his eyes weren't wide enough to let all the raindrops out, but he just sat there raining down on Robin's corpse, his shoulders beginning to convulse as the rain in his head began to build up.

He couldn't contain the rain any longer. It was useless. So he exploded, unleashing a tsunami of sorrow onto the world. He let out a scream of pain as sobs took him over. He just waited for his pupils to triple in size and turn red, and for him to explode only to be replaced by a six tailed red fox with the bones jutting from the outside, connected only by the bloody tissue from his old skin. **[1]** He didn't turn in to Kyuubi though, much to his dismay, although he knew it would hurt something awful to. Instead, he stood up and tore off into the night.

"I'm going to kill you!" he screamed, the tsunami killing anyone who dared approach. "You killed him! Give me my best friend back!"

The sadistic laughter filled his head and he felt evil eyes glare down at him from all over. They were filled with such hatred and murder that he felt ready to catch ablaze and burn until his ashes were swept down into Satan's own personal lair to decorate the floors. He clutched at his ears and just kept running though. He didn't know who had shot Robin, but he'd kill them all if that's what it took to get revenge. That's all he wanted. He wanted the world to know that if he couldn't be happy then _no one _could.

XxXxX

Barry ran a hand through his hair weakly, looking down at Wally. Pain tugged at his heart and he felt ready to sob his heart out at the sight of his nephew in such pain. Wally was thrashing violently beneath the covers of his bed, not to mention that he was sobbing. He had just stopped screaming which was good, but this wasn't much better. Barry had tried to call Bruce 17 times now, but the man hadn't answered. Barry was scared sick now, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn't get a hold of Robin either. He feared the worst for them, but for all he cared, they could both be dead. It was Robin's fault that his nephew was like this!

_Barry, you can't go thinking like that. Wally said that Robin tried to save him even though he was in some serious pain… It's not Robin's fault that Wally's like this. It's… well, whoever stabbed Wally, it's his fault… Bruce never mentioned though. He said it was top secret… I don't get why though. It's just like Robin's identity. We all know who Batman is, but not Robin? Robin doesn't look like he'd be a serial killer of any sort, so why hide a past of a perfectly innocent little kid?_

Well, that's what he was supposed to be thinking anyway. If he was a proper and rule-following uncle like Bruce, but he wasn't Bruce. In fact, he was Bruce's opposite. He was Robin's Wally. He was chocolate's vanilla. However you say it, he wasn't thinking about his nephew. Well, he was concerned out of his mind and mad at whoever hurt Wally, but his mind was on guy things, not family things.

_Man, that lady at the bar last night… Damn, she had some big boobs. I mean, I've seen big, but nothing like that! I mean, if those are real than I'm Superman! I don't care though; she was totally checking me out! If only I was younger and available… But still, damn! How do they get so big? Wouldn't that hurt your back if you had to carry those twin bazookas on your chest? I mean, dang! It looked like she had a plumber sticking out of her chest!_

While his mind was on the lady at the bar last night, Wally turned over roughly in the bed and cried out angrily.

"N-No," he mumbled, screwing up his eyes tight.

Barry snapped from his thoughts and focused on his nephew, furrowing his eyebrows. Wally pressed his lips tightly together, as if to stifle a scream and the sobs came again, only softer this time.

"You… killed him… you bastard!" he screamed, thrashing even more violent this time.

As quick as he could, Barry sped to his nephew and held him down tightly.

"Wally, please, wake up! It's just a dream!" Barry insisted, praying Wally would hear.

If the redhead did, he ignored it and kept struggling.

"Robin!" he sobbed, struggling harder. "You killed him!"

Barry sighed desperately.

_Come on Flash, think quick! Your nephew is spazzing out in his sleep and could end up killing himself if you don't wake him up! What wakes up Sleeping Beauty?_

Then Barry thought of it, and felt immediately better. He knew he'd have to be really fast for this, but it would be worth it.

XxXxX

Robin weakly opened his eyes. Who was screaming? Why was it so loud? He turned his head to the side and felt his eyes double in size. Artemis was leaning against the wall, a huge blood stain seeping through her green shirt, her mouth open in a scream. Kaldur was trying to help her while holding back Thom who had a deadly looking knife in his fist that had blood lacing its tip. Somehow, he managed to deflect the heavy streams of Atlantean magic and avoid Superboy's power packed punches that missed only by inches. Megan was collapsed on Superboy's chest and he clung to her body tightly, fighting one handed expertly, but it seemed as if Thom was made of rubber.

_No… they're protecting me from him… but they're going to get hurt… I have to… help…_

Robin sat up and let out a choked scream of pain. The stab wounds felt like venom as the pain clicked to his brain. The pain was enough to silence him from any witty remarks that he would've made, but not enough to stop him from being his stubborn self. Clenching his teeth as tight as they would go, Robin got to his feet and pulled his utility belt from its hiding place, grabbing his tazor from its compartment. Clamping an arm around his middle, he aimed weakly at Thom and pulled the trigger. He saw the small box shoot out across the air and stab into Thom's chest, its bolts flying with little blue sparks, but Thom only laughed.

"Robin, get out of here!" Artemis begged desperately, tears slowly fighting from her eyes from the stab wound.

Kaldur held tight to her hand, fury running through him. He shot Robin a knowing glance, but Robin ignored it. He kept pulling the trigger as if it was the Super Mario Party 8 DS minigame where you had to press the A button fast enough to get the lead out across the space available to beat the opponents. The more sparks that flew, the less pain Thom seemed to feel. He ripped the hooks from his flesh and tugged the box forward, dragging Robin with it. Robin let out a scream of pain as his chest struck the floor and the cuts dragged along the floor boards. In a few seconds flat, Thom's hand was around Robin's throat, squeezing the life out of him.

Kaldur and Superboy acted fast, both releasing the girls of the team and attempting to loosen Thom's hold, but their earth shaking blows didn't even faze him. Robin's face was growing red fast from lack of air and tears threatened his eyes at the pain that was only intensifying the longer he dangled. Desperately, Robin pulled at the hands and kicked blindly, but his feet got him anywhere. In a last attempt as Robin felt his lungs run out of air, Robin sank his teeth deep into the man's hands, drawing blood. Thom didn't lessen his hold, but he definitely winced. Robin, sensing the pain, held tight to the man's hand with his teeth.

_If I'm dying here, I'm taking this bastard's hand with me_ he thought weakly.

Megan was out cold, so she could do nothing. Superboy was delivering the strongest punches he could manage. Kaldur was smashing the man in vital spots like the head and neck with his water whip. Even Artemis, through the body wracking pain, raised her bow weakly and shot a well aimed arrow at the man's arms. The arrow went right through Thom's arms and blood surged from the wound, but the man didn't utter a cry of pain. In fact, he seemed oblivious. His attention was based solely on Robin, who seconds later, collapsed under the pressure, his teeth losing their pressure.

"Pathetic," Thom muttered, throwing Robin's body to the ground.

Robin skidded back, his throat heavily bruised and blood soaking through his shirt too. And with that, Thom gave a maniacal laugh and turned to the others who hadn't given up on trying to hurt him.

"When the 'Boy Wonder' wakes up," he laughed at the name, "tell him that we have his daddy."

And then suddenly, Thom was swept away as if he were made of ashes. Kaldur and Superboy didn't hesitate. Kaldur dashed to Artemis's side and picked her up bridal style and Superboy did the same with Megan.

"If only Kid was here," Kaldur muttered, running as fast as his feet could carry him down to the infirmary where some League member would hopefully be.

Superboy longed to take Megan down to the infirmary too, but he knew she was okay. He just wished that she was okay, and awake at that. He carried her to Robin's bed and lay her down softly; staring at her face with the softest expression he could manage. He hoped Robin wouldn't mind, but then again, he also didn't because he really didn't care what Robin thought. If he wanted to set Megan down on Robin's bed, he was going to set Megan down on Robin's bed no matter what the ebony haired boy thought.

He looked down at Robin and felt bad, but he also felt a strange sense of power. Robin's eyes were exposed and his lips were parted in what would've been a scream. He was curled into a near ball, his knees close to his chest and his hands folded over each other lying beside his head. The feeling made him sick to his stomach, so he turned his attention back to the Martian. Her green skin seemed to glow in the faint light of Robin's room and she looked like she was just sleeping peacefully. Superboy set a hand on his neck. He didn't like people. Why were people so confusing? Why couldn't they come with an instruction booklet?

XxXxX

Wally's eyes snapped open at the smell. It was a heavenly smell and was intoxicatingly sweet and sugary with a perfect balance of spice. He inhaled and grinned through the tears, his eyes scanning the room. In front of him was the biggest plate of waffles he had ever seen, sparkling in brilliance. His eyes widened and he reached for them until his nightmare flew back in his head. He let out a gasp and leapt from bed.

"Robin!" he cried, dashing off from sight.

Barry sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"At least he woke up," he muttered to himself.

He didn't question his nephew's 'spidey sense', but he did question the boy's grip on reality. He had obviously known it was a dream, right? He shook his head slightly, eyeing the communicator on the counter. He was tempted to call again, but he trusted Wally enough to handle himself.

The redhead himself was sick with worry. He knew that it had been just a God awful nightmare of Robin dying, but the feeling that ran through him once he remembered was one he recognized. He could feel it, deep down in his bones, that something just happened to Robin. He knew he was probably just overreacting, but he didn't care. It's better to be safe than sorry, and if he was wrong, at least he'd get to see Robin. He just prayed he was just stuck on the after effects of the dream, but nothing would've prepared him for what he saw.

**[1] Naruto reference, FTW. I couldn't resist.**

**Alright, so yeah, Wally was having a nightmare in the beginning about someone killing Robin and him being unable to stop it. Yes, it had a purpose. If I write it, you'll see why in next chapter… unless I start procrastinating… So yeah, review! And um… uh… Happy Early Father's Day…. Should I make a Father's Day one-shot for Robin? Tell me in the review, if you would?**

**-Frank Annabeth Josephine (Haa, I just realized that if her name was Frank Annabeth Gertrude, it would spell fag… sorry, I'm immature…)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry I haven't updated. The internet on my computer hasn't been behaving, so I don't even know if this'll be put up. I figured since the internet isn't working, I might as well just type so when it's back, I can post a tsunami of crap for you all to read… So, hate it, love it, choke on it, I don't really care. **

**Disclaimer: Uh, yeah, none of this is mine, except the writing style and my word choicings. You don't like it? Neither do I.**

Bruce scrunched up his nose in discomfort as he forced his eyes open, despite the pain that it brought to face the light that was blaring into his eyes. He forced his head down so he was looking down to the area to the right of his knees. Then he took in his situation. His wrists, from the feel of it, were bound tight enough to almost completely cut off his circulation; his feet were bound tightly to, from the feel of it, the chair he was in; there was a study lamp pointed in his face; the floor beneath him was rough concrete and his body felt bruised all over.

He frowned and fought to remember where he was, but more importantly, how he got there. Slowly, piece by piece, his mind puzzle began to fall into place, but he was missing a couple pieces. He, unlike his sidekick, despised puzzles of the jigsaw kind. At the thought of that, he remembered what happened to Robin and his eyes half swelled in a panic. His little boy, his ward, his little springtime bird was in trouble! Using his panic to his advantage, he struggled furiously against his bonds. He didn't stop when a stomach-dropping dread-inducing chuckle filled the air around him.

"Struggling is pointless; there's no way you can escape those bonds," an Italian accent taunted him.

Bruce wasn't one to be discouraged easily though. He closed his eyes, as if it would help, and struggled harder.

"You're breathing is pointless," Bruce tossed back between clenched teeth.

Tony Zucco smirked curiously, folding his arms over his chest.

"Oh yeah? Now why is that, Mr. Wayne?" he probed curiously.

"Because," Bruce said with a strained voice, "when I escape these freaking bonds, I'm going to shove my foot so far-…"

"Hey! That's not very nice," Tony chuckled, clearly amused.

Bruce swallowed a smile as one of his hands managed to grip the top of one of his bonds.

"I was going to say that I was going to shove it down your throat, but I'm sure you'd like it better if I _shove it so far up your ass that it comes out your throat!_" Bruce threatened, his eyebrows set hard in stone, or so it seemed.

Tony grinned slyly.

"Ah, Bruce… you're so funny!" he turned the lamp off, but he never gained Bruce's eyes. "Even if you do escape, where would you go?"

Bruce said nothing, biting his lip as he fought against the thick cloth that held his arms still.

"You can't go after your little brat. He won't go back to… oh, what did he call it?"

Bruce growled angrily, but said nothing.

"Oh yes, prison. That is what he called his 'home', wasn't it? He won't go back to prison with you, no matter how much money you have. The only thing that the little tyke wants is his _real _mummy and daddy back, but you can't give that to him…"

Bruce's eyes snapped up, the closest thing to the gateway to Hell burning fiercely in his eyes.

"That's not true!" he snarled. "Robin's given up on the hope of getting his parents back, and he's fine living with me! If he didn't like it, he would've left a long time ago! He was just speaking from pain!"

Tony's smirk widened, realizing that he found a button to push on the famous Batman. That silly boy of his was his trigger.

"Oh, but didn't you hear his tone? I think he meant it this time," Tony challenged, turning his back to the angered superhero.

Bruce closes his eyes again, screwing them up tight and focusing on his bonds.

"How the hell would you know what he means? NO ONE UNDERSTANDS HIM! He's Robin, and Robin has his own way of things!" as much as Bruce tried, the fear in his voice coated what he had tried to make sound like anger.

He was scared sick, but not for himself. He knew for a fact that he could escape and kill Tony Zucco in an instant. He was worried for Robin. Robin overestimated himself most days, and today was one of them. His body was in such bad state that he was practically helpless, and there were two mutant villains out there trying to kill him. That thought scares the shit out of any father, or almost father in his case. Sensing his fear, Zucco felt victory run deep through him. He pulled a remote from his pocket and pressed a series of buttons before a plasma screen came down, catching Bruce's eyes.

He looked up curiously, and his heart, what was left of it, shattered in his chest and his fear multiplied, running rapid through his blood. On the screen, he was watching Robin get his ass kicked by Thom while the team attempted to save him. There punches, there hits, there weapons… it was all useless. Bruce stared at the screen, praying this was a stupid joke, but there was nothing showing that it was. Tears stung from deep down in Bruce's core, and he was surprised to see that he had any to spare, but he blinked them away.

"You monster!" he screamed, struggling harder at the bonds, wanting nothing more than to take the TV and use it to beat Tony Zucco's fat Italian head in until the blood and pink fleshy remains were on the floor at his feet.

Tony just laughed at the reaction, putting the TV back up.

"Don't get your panties in a twist. He's not dead… yet."

Hearing that his sidekick was still alive caused a glimmer of hope, until that stupid 'yet'. Why was there always a 'yet'?

"Why are you doing this to him?" Bruce growled, pulling hard at his left hand which was nearly free.

Tony shrugged. "Revenge mostly. The little snot put me out of my work for a long while…"

Bruce frowned, furrowing his eyebrows.

"If you're out to kill my s-… ward… just because of money you're missing, remember that I'm a multi-billionaire. I can give you the money you're missing!"

Tony laughed long and hard. "Who needs your money? When I sell you and him, as well as your equipment, I'll be richer than you've ever dreamt of!"

Bruce froze.

"Sell us?" he repeated cautiously.

Tony grinned ear to ear. "You and your little 'ward' have heavy prices on your heads, all from the occupants of Arkham Asylum, as well as several prisons and jails along the coast. And do you know how many people would kill for the actual mask that Robin wore; your cape; your batarang? I'll be richer than your wildest dreams!"

Bruce closed his eyes and shook his head. He felt his left hand slowly ease from the cloth, but the right one would be a different story. He kept his face grim though, and kept struggling, without showing his left hand was free in the slightest. Tony bought the trick and his happiness magnified. Tony nodded goodbye, exiting the room, seeing he had nothing left to say. Bruce still played it safe, but he knew he didn't have long. From the looks of it, Thom had probably broken Robin's air pipe, or came close to it. The rest of the team looked hurt pretty bad, so they wouldn't be able to help him.

Bruce sighed heavily, as he realized for the first time in his life that he prayed Kid Flash would get to Robin before he did.

**Silly emos! You don't need knives to cut yourself! Just use my mom's brand of razors. Amount of cuts on buddy from razor: 4. How much blood lost? Well, ask the pinkish tinted shower floor. Who needs shaving cream? It makes your arms rough and gross. I prefer just shaving and then putting on baby lotion... (By the way, don't put baby lotion over razor cuts and don't snort it. Both really hurt)**

**Anyway, sorry it's short. I got writer's block. Any suggestions for how to get Wally and Robin pissed at each other? **

**-F.J. **


	16. Chapter 16

**Damn. It's been a while. I figured I might as well sense I've had the prompt for this chapter lying around for a few months. Sorry, I just lost inspiration. I figured no one liked this though so… if you don't like it, then whatever. Don't like it. I never asked you to. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters/show. **

Wally hoped it had just been an awful nightmare. He hoped that when he ran into the Cave, he'd see Dick sitting on the couch watching TV with the others. He hoped that his friend would wave and greet him happily, as if nothing had happened. He hoped he'd be able to laugh it off and run up next to Dick, putting an arm around him to assure that he really was alive and there.

The second the Cave recognized him and projected him into his preferred home, he _knew _something was off. No food was being tortured in the painful process of failed cooking. No one was fighting. There was no laughter. The TV was off and the couches looked undisturbed. Where was everyone? He jogged swiftly, peeking his head in every room. He stopped cold when he saw all of the blood in Dick's room.

Wally fell to his knees in the doorway, his eyes falling shut. He started to shake, setting his hands over his eyes.

"No…" he breathed in panic. "This… he's okay… he's okay… there's no guarantee that it's his blood…"

Biting viciously into his lip, Wally forced himself to his feet and he continued his swift jog, peeking his head into every room he passed. Where was Dick? Where was anyone? He was half tempted to start screaming their names until someone came to find him. He opened his mouth to scream when another scream cut him off. It was Dick's. With a cry, Wally followed it to the infirmary, mentally face-palming. Why didn't he check there first?

"_Let me go! They have Batman!_" bubbly screams of pain accompanied the near sob.

Wally peeked through the window to make sure it was Dick. It was, but he wished he would've stayed home as he saw. There was so much blood… From this angle, he could see how bad Dick's neck was bruised and how hard he was struggling against the straps that bound him to the hospital bed. Even Kaldur and Conner were struggling to hold him down.

"Stop struggling!" Kaldur demanded, wincing as sharp nails dig into his hand.

"You're too hurt to save him! Artemis is calling the League. They're going to find him," Megan's eyebrows were furrowed and she rung her hands out stressfully, close to crying from sympathy.

"This is my battle! Let me fight it alone!" Dick's scream was strangled as he bucked and kicked.

It was obvious that struggling made everything sting unimaginably, but he kept fighting. That was all Wally could take. He bolted into the room in a flash, pushing Kaldur and Conner off of his best friend. Dick's eyes widened as their grips were gone and he turned his head, surprised and relieved to see the ginger. Wally set a pale hand to the ungloved wrist gently. He knew it wouldn't restrain Dick, but it'd keep him from trying to escape…. Hopefully.

"What happened? Why are you bruised? Why's everyone hurt?" he sounded scared sick, his expression confirming it.

Dick stopped struggling and squirming, especially when he saw the tears that were threatening. He gritted his teeth in agony, but he stopped fighting for a moment.

"_They _have Batman and these," Dick glared furiously at his teammates, "lovely bitches and bastards won't let me save him!"

The ginger looked at the others, obviously lost.

"Going after him would be suicide," Conner pointed out, folding his arms over his chest and leaning up against the nearest wall.

Dick turned his way, eyes narrowed heavily.

"Good!" he screamed, still not fighting back, "Thom works for a longtime enemy of mine. If I'm not the one who puts this heartless _asshole _down, I'm-!"

He was cut off as Wally's free hand pressed itself over his lips, muffling his next words.

"Hold up, I just got here. Who's Thom? Where's Batman? _Why are you hurt?_" he asked impatiently.

Wally pulled his hand away so Dick could answer, but it was Megan who explained everything. Kaldur and Conner added comments to keep the youngest ebony from voicing his opinion. When Wally was caught up, right to the last detail, he rose from his seat, pure murder in his eyes.

"Sorry Rob, you'll have to wait your turn. _No one _hurts my friends," Wally growled, his hands in the tightest of fists by his pockets.

Kaldur dashed over and pushed Wally back far enough so they'd hopefully be out of the Boy Wonder's hearing range.

"Robin wants to kill this man. He is dead set on it, but if he does go to kill 'Thom', then he _will _die. He is injured beyond belief, and super obsessed to add to the matter. We all would prefer it if you _were _the one to take him down, but Robin would not like that," Kaldur mumbled softly.

Even Conner couldn't hear him, so there was no way Dick could. Wally nodded determinately, detecting a challenge in his leader's tone.

"I'll talk him out of it. Get everyone out of here," Wally said just as softly, issuing an order.

He was surprised to see that Kaldur actually listened.

"Let us go see if we can help Artemis reach the League," Kaldur suggested, gesturing for the others to follow.

Conner and Megan exchanged confused glances before shrugging and following him out of the room. Only once they were all gone did Wally sit back down beside Dick, setting a useless hand back to the ebony's wrist.

"You can't talk me out of this," Dick said simply, his eyes wet from unshed tears.

Wally nodded weakly.

"I figured, but I don't want to do that. I want to tell you why I'm here."

Dick raised an eyebrow, showing he was listening. Wally stared at his friend's bruised neck instead of his eyes. He slowly told him about the nightmare. He described the pure fear that had haunted him at losing Dick over something so pointless. When he finished, his chin trembled and tears burnt in his eyes.

"I-I won't lose you…" he whispered.

Dick bit his lip softly, blinking his eyes quickly.

"And I won't lose Batman."

Wally's eyes narrowed and he raised his eyes, angrily meeting the exposed dark blue ones.

"You won't lose him. If the League finds him soon enough, he'll be better off than if you went," the ginger argued.

Dick returned the angry glance, his heart pounding with rage.

"I'd be better off if I went! Wally, you don't get it! This is my only chance for revenge! You don't know how long I've dreamt about killing this guy! Now I might know where he is and I can finally live my dream! Don't deny me the only thing I have left!" tears brightly stood out against the blue in his eyes.

Even though he was screaming at Wally, the anger in his voice wasn't directed at the ginger. He seemed more angry at the world itself rather than his friend.

"Rob… I don't know why you want to kill this man so bad, and I know you won't tell me so I won't ask, but I _won't _lose you. You're my _best _friend; practically my little brother!" Wally started.

"Then let me kill him! P-Please!"

Wally shook his head, screwing his eyes up tight. He pulled his hand back, resting it on his thigh.

"Robin, listen to yourself! You could've _died_! If you go to fight this guy, you _will _die! I'm not going to lose you. Even if I have to lose your friendship, I won't let you kill yourself like this!" at even the idea of having to look at Dick and knowing that adorable giggle would never be directed his way again broke his heart in his chest, but it was worth it.

Dick's eyes widened and it was as if the ginger had just driven a knife through his chest. His heart stung, throbbing with pain. He was brought up being told not to show heartbreak though, so he bit his lip and narrowed his eyes.

"Fine! Then just get out! I don't need you!" he lied, trembling. "I never want to see you again! I hate you!"

Lie after lie spilled past his lips, but he couldn't care less. He wasn't going to let Wally kill himself in _his _battle. No one he knew was going to die; no one besides the Batman-like figure burrowing itself deep inside his heart as he cut off ties with his closest friend. The lies punctured the ginger's heart like bullets, crippling him in pain for the longest time. The pain was enough to make a tear fall, but he turned to hide it from Dick.

"I-I…" he wanted to yell, but his voice was a choky whisper instead. "I just… I never wanted to lose you…"

He got to his feet and slowly walked towards the door, refusing to look back.

"When you die, wait for me in Hell."

Dick watched his best friend walk out on him, his heart full of lead. He didn't have to see the tears to hear them fall. This was his fault; this was all because of him.

"I'm already waiting," he breathed, closing his eyes to stop the tears from falling.

They fell anyway, making themselves comfy next to his cheeks on the pillow. Now he was alone. There was no one to save him from himself.

**Sorry this is late I guess. Merry December. I hope this was good enough of a fight. It sucked, sure, but I couldn't have them strangle each other. One's kind of restrained to a bed because he went insane for a moment. Review?**

**-F.J. **


End file.
